Of Meisters and Weapons
by FrozenLightningRai
Summary: Only after a couple of months after Asura is defeated, two runaway broken Demon Weapons appear in the human world. The forger of legendary weapons, Semantics, warns Death Academy that dangerous events are incoming, and to prepare for the worst. A new Kishin is born, and a nigh-immortal Witch hounds the group at every turn, until even darkness falls to itself. (OCs, no romances)
1. Prologus Volumen I

**Author's Note/Greeting: **Oh hai. I'm not dead. Or a zombie. But everything else is on Hiatus now. I've been busy, and am currently recovering from a bug... And now that college is out, I have some free time. So, I did this. Part 1 of 3, of this new fanfic I'm working on. This is the prologue, which is why there are no main characters appearing yet. But once Prologus is done, we'll start the story. So, enjoy the prologue, and tell me what you think?

* * *

The darkness surpassed the darkness of hell. It was artificial, of course, as a den of a Witch. But the hooded figure passed through the blackness almost at one with it. The walls seemed to close in on the figure, who's only visible marker was the white trimming on the robes it wore.

Eventually, the hallway ended at a single point marked by a chain and lock-laden iron door. Even the handle was unique, as it was bent into the figure of a sideways 'z'. The figure rustled through the chains, and pulled down on one of the handles. The door created a high-pitched scream as the metal grinded on itself and the locks were torn off. The doors rotated, seemingly on an axis, then parted sideways once it had rotated diagonally.

Climbing over the door, the figure was greeted by a huge, barely lit room. When it looked down, it noticed that most of the floor was torn out, and that in reality, the room was an expanse of empty space. The floor underneath the figure extended only several paces out, where broken fragments led a path hundreds of meters down to a semi-circular platform far below. Below, a red pattern glowed, in a hexagonal formation. It seemed to be a liquid which connected a central red bonfire, with streams out to six smaller points, all burning simultaneously.

The figure pulled down his hood to reveal a pale face, androgynous, and marked with dark circles under his white eyes, but otherwise fair. Black hair was released from the hood as it settled, and the man stepped to the edge of the seemingly broken floor. A chandelier, which had been hanging precariously in the distance, fell from a piece of structure, apparently connected to the prior portions of the building he had just left. His eyes tracked it as it fell, followed by the rest of the structure. After waiting for a plume of dust at the bottom, he took a step forward, and jumped off the edge to the platform underneath him.

After what seemed to be a fall for several minutes, the man touched the ground elegantly, creating a small circle of dust which was pushed away when he touched the ground. From here, the lights were easily several times larger than he was. Upon close inspection, the bonfire rested on a very large pedestal, as did the six smaller lights from above. The liquid which connected each fire was actually a concentrated fire in a channel which connected each pedestal. The wall behind him was craggy rock from above, but from his current position, the rock had turned into a carved wall. Out in the distance, he could see another chandelier fall to the ground, and just to his side, he noticed an odd phenomenon as a shattered, fallen chandelier pieced itself back together.

Taking his time to walk around the range of the bonfire, a small, slender figure of a woman bumped into him. It was a human soul, in the den of a Witch, which rested in a hive of Kishin spawning grounds. It would have been a common occurrence to come across one, but the figure pondered on why it was so close to the den of the Witch he stalked. However, the human pressed on, apparently not concerned on why it was even in the Witch's den.

As he finally made it around the seven bonfires, he was able to see the edge of the platform he was on. Standing fairly close to the edge, a man stood, a hand holding a hat which concealed his face. The rest of his body was dressed in a tuxedo-like outfit, and as he watched the trespasser walk closer to him, the figure's soul began to illuminate, showing a base purple soul with several tendrils seeping out of the main body, the telling of a Witch.

The black robed man's left arm started to glow, the tell-tale sign of summoning a Weapon, which became a gauntlet, covered by a shield-like curved mirror. Two chains, one white and the other black, twisted around his right arm, as the Witch's soul became brighter.

The man pointed with his chained arm. "Male witches are a rarity amongst your kind. I've destroyed dozens in this Forge, and you are but the first I've come across to be male."

The Witch sighed. "I get that a lot." His hand twitched. "And it's annoying."

Unmoving, the challenger waited for the Witch to attack. "It's strange though. You don't feel like the Witches I've eaten before."

The Witch cocked his head. "Eaten? That must mean you're a Demon Weapon, or more specifically a Death Scythe if you've already eaten a Witch." He paused, musing on an idea. "But then, if that's the case, why are you here alone? There's no point for you to continue to eat our souls."

The air vibrated with power. "I am no Death Scythe. I was once considered such, but I have surpassed such titles."

"Pride beckons defeat. Be wary of a snake's tongue, it's purpose isn't what it may seem to have." The Witch retorted. "Snake Snake, Cobra Cobra, Vi -"

The Weapon moved, faster than the eye could follow, and the chained hand touched the chest of the Witch. Pushing forwards, the Witch's mantra was interrupted as he was blasted off of the platform to even lower depths of the den. The Weapon followed in pursuit as streaks of black and purple energy slide past him.

After minutes of free fall, the two landed on the last platform, a barren wasteland littered with rocks and crags. Quickly, the Witch began to chant his mantra. The Weapon spared no time and the two chains extended off of his arm and formed into a dazzling white and black sword, which pierced through the chest of Witch. The mantra incomplete, the spell the Witch was attempting fizzled out, and his body evaporated until nothing but a small purple soul remained.

The Weapon held the soul, slowly placing it into his mouth. As he swallowed, his body turned bright red as the Witch's soul merged with ninety-nine other Kishin eggs. The light faded. The Weapon looked down, and saw a silver blade piercing his chest. The red light returned, only brighter, and concentrated from his wound.

"But… How-?" The Weapon gasped, turning around and finding the Witch he had just eaten holding the blade which was currently in his chest.

"You never let me finish my mantra, y'know." Vertical glowing red cracks appeared on the weapon's body. "It goes… Snake snake," The cracks began to reach his upper chest. "Cobra Cobra," The cracks now traveled down to his stomach. "Viper, HYDRA." Finally, the cracks completely split the Weapon in half, and in a burst of souls, shattered the weapon. At the epicenter of the burst, one odd white and black soul, cracked in half, floated.

"No one ever lets me finish my mantra." He paused, toying with the soul. "Thus, no one ever expects it. Whoops!" While playing with the soul, he pressed it too hard, and the fractured soul broke into two ragged pieces. "Now I've done it. Oh well." The witch pressed on one of the broken halves, subtly as to make sure the soul was not going to shatter again.

Another figure, this time feminine, appeared out of the darkness of the final platform. Truly cloaked in shadow, the only aspect visible of him was his eyes, which glowed a brilliant red. "Elapidae. Why are you wasting time?"

The Witch, named Elapidae, turned towards the figure. "Dracona. What a pleasure to see you outside of the Witch Mass. What possibly brings you to a den such as mine?" Elapidae tilted his hat in recognition.

"What a silver tongue. Trademark of snake Witches." Dracona scoffed. "We're having another Mass in a few days. Don't miss it this time."

Elapidae whined. "Can't I just send one? I don't want to go personally!"

As the two Witches talked, the two soul fragments floated into the air, higher and higher until out of view of the Witches. Eventually, after a long period of time, the twin souls floated to a barrier, a surface of the world below. Passing through the barrier and creating ripples, the injured soul floated into the room where a strange, yet warm light bathed the souls.

A masked figure, whose eyes could not be seen through the black mask, appeared as if he teleported into the room. It wore silver robes that seemed amorphous, never keeping the same shape, but it formed perfectly to the figure. It had no hands or feet as it floated in the room but it raised an arm towards the soul. Its body twisted as its hands touched the broken soul fragments. The figure's voice, clearly male, rung through the room. "What has happened, my little one? How could you have been broken?" Twig-like fingers sprouted from his arms which seemed to bend backwards as he carefully and delicately moved the souls closer to him.

Suddenly, as the twig-like fingers carried the two halves to a table which had seemingly sprouted out of nowhere, the soul's mixtures of black and white fragments reformed and separated again just moments after uniting. The two halves, now uniquely shaped and souls of their own, morphed into two broken swords which rested on the ground. Both were split along the center amongst left and right portions, and each sword was rugged and sharp where the two should have been able to reconnect.

"Oh my." The figure gasped. "You were broken right after consuming a Witch's soul, weren't you? Right at your most vulnerable moment. And here you were so close to becoming perfect." His fingers delicately picked up the two halves, and the world twisted upside-down into a slightly darker version of room before.

A horned man, dressed in white and wearing a white mask to match stepped forward silently. Nothing but his eyes was visible, and they reflected pure green light from inside the mask. His clothing seemed to be one piece, and covered everything, including his hands and feet in a single layer. Darker shades of green formed in lines on each of his fingers to his wrist, and similar lines also were present on the folds of where the cloth would normally sway, around his shoulders and one line down his chest. Tatters of cloth creating a robe-like effect fluttered about though, ensuring that it was actual cloth he was wearing.

The silver-robed man appeared to glitch. His voice changed, becoming higher. "Murcielago. Could you watch these two for a while?"

Murcielago said nothing. A burst of air, as if it were vibrating, tremored in the room. 'As you wish, Semantics.'

"Good. I must review what has happened in the Forge. This might get ugly in the near future…" The silver-robed being named Semantics twisted around, and walked into a door which etched into existence before him, and left the room.

Murcielago simply stood still over the two broken swords. After a few minutes of silence, his eyes swept over the empty room. The floor was white, and small clouds brushed against the ground. There was no sun, but light still emanated in the room. His eyes moved back down towards the swords, and he carefully picked each one up. Behind him, a door etched into existence, and opening it, the darkness in the room beyond engulfed Murcielago and the two newly born souls.


	2. Prologus Volumen II

**Author's Note:** This part is short as I had intended it. There are no parts missing. As the second third of the Prologus, it is only a letter, and was meant to be short. I'll have part three hopefully out be the end of the night. I forgot I have a Final to finish, so it might be awhile. Enjoy.

* * *

To Lord Death,

I realize that communicating with you via your mirror method is perhaps easier, but I must remain in my Forge enclosure. I have just recently learned of Asura's re-awakening, although a few months have past since you have destroyed him. You have my praise; your Death Academy plan appears to have worked quite well. However, the purpose of my letter is not of praise, but of a request.

As you are well aware, I helped develop the Demon Weapons of late. Lately, within the last few centuries, I have completed the Forgery of Balmung, who shall be kept in my Forge until he is needed. If I had known that Asura had reawakened… Well, I apologize I could not act sooner. But I have begun to forge a new kind of weapon, one whose strength alone should rival the strength achieved by bond of Meister and Weapon together, a new defense to aid humanity.

It, however, has been damaged in the process of the forge, and has fractured in two. I know that one half of the Weapon returned to your world, and given its state as it left, will mostly likely become a Kishin in the near future. It's latent power is, thankfully, unobtainable, and only an adept and flexible Meister is able to utilize its abilities. It can, however, tap into that power if it is able to reunite with its other half. If that becomes the case, I ask that you personally intervene and separate and contain the two fragments until I can collect them and repair it. I suppose that I should mention this now as well: its counterpart fragment took off shortly after, and has escaped the Forge. Which is now the problem…

I ask that you prepare Death City; in the case that one of the halves comes to your city, especially if that half is the one I presume will turn into a Kishin before anything else. It's other half will most likely not pose a threat to you, but I cannot tell what its motives are, especially since the Forgery process reforms the Demon Weapon entirely. However, I recommend both halves to be taken cautiously, especially due to the nature of this unique soul duo. Whoever are your top students and teachers in your Academy should be sent to attempt to communicate with the halves if they appear. I regret if there are causalities, but if that looks to be the case…

I send this letter with my most dependable Forgeries, Murcielago. Let his experience guide your way to success in my plea.

In best regards,

Semantics


	3. Prologus Volumen III

**AN: Alrighty, that took a bit longer than I liked. Oh well. Time to get crackin, see what I can do with a few days off. Now, part three, the finale of the Prologus Volumen, is done, and I can start going for the true start of the story. Enjoy, R&R, I'm curious to hear what you guys are thinking.**

* * *

He floated in darkness. He hurt. When he opened his eyes, he found no wound, but something ached. There was nothing there to hurt him, or so he thought. He didn't know why he hurt, nor why he was in the darkness he was in now. Slowly, light invaded his eyes, and he found himself in a room stained in dark green. Stepping out of his Weapon form, he raised a hand to his head, dazed. Suddenly, he began to perceive the room for what it was – rubble was everywhere, and a hole was torn in one of the walls.

He took off his hood, and looked at his clothes while sitting down. The cloth was amorphous and shapeless, but all were black. He wore black robes, and under that, nothing but a pair of black pants and shoes. Black chains wound under his robes, and some were visible at his wrists. The chains looked as if they had been broken from another source, either keeping him in place, or bound to something else.

He slowly stood up, his legs shaking. Leaning against a wall, he walked along the wall to the hole, and peered beyond. The void beyond was colorless, all in blacks, whites, and grays. The scene seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember why. The Weapon eased himself over the edge of the hole in the wall, and began to free-fall into the oblivion-like landscape. However, just before he touched the ground, a large explosion ignited the sky. Streams of white outlined in black and green energy danced around the sky, and the wind from the explosion carried the streams past the Weapon.

Focusing his eyes, the Weapon looked into the distant sky at the source of the explosion. In the distance, he could see two figures standing in the sky. Both figures were dressed in complete white, but he was too far away to get any closer details. Resting, he watched the two. One held a white and green spear, and the other a white sword. The two clashed several times, sending shockwaves through the air.

Eventually, the exhaustion left the lone Weapon, and he began to approach the sky-torn battle. Closer, he could see that the warrior with the sword looked like a mirror replica of himself. The spear-wielding warrior wore a mask to that prevented anyone from seeing his features, but as he approached, the masked man's green eyes flashed at him.

'Lanza de Luz.' The masked man's spear glowed brilliantly. Spinning the spear, the light seemed to shear off of the weapon, and it was now longer, the same length as the wielder, and green rings encompassing the staff and blade. 'It appears,' He said, twisting his waste so he could view both of them. 'That both halves are awake.' The words did not come out as words. The man's words were not audible, as no noise traveled from the source. Instead, each syllable he 'spoke' was accompanied by a brief resonance in the exuded Soul-Wavelengths. No noise was created, and the process was similar to telepathy.

The man in white waved his sword. "I don't know what you're talkin' about, but I couldn't care in the slightest. I don't even know how you're talkin', but…" A white and black energy cloaked the blade of the sword he held in his hand. All I want to get out and eat. I'm hungry."

The spear blocked his way, and more soul waves were exuded. 'As my reputation as Murcielago, you will not leave until Semantics restores your soul.'

"I know how to fix myself… I think. All I have to do is consume the other half of my soul…" The white Weapon paused, staring at the black Weapon. "I'll be damned." His irises glowed white as he looked at the soul of the black Weapon. What he found surprised him. "Your soul's ripped in half. That can only mean-"

Before he could finish his thoughts, Murcielago appeared directly in front of the white Weapon, grabbing his shoulder and tossing him into the distance. As he recovered from the throw, the white energy cloaking his blade was discharged in a large arc. It hurtled towards Murcielago, but he side-step the wave of energy with apparent ease. However, his opponent worked on the opening that was created, and created a second arc of white energy towards Murcielago. Without any additional time to dodge again, he used the staff of his spear to parry the arc.

The black Weapon watched from the sidelines until the parried attack was, intentionally or not, redirected at him. Using the same maneuver as Murcielago, he side-stepped the rogue wave and watched it land on the ground behind him, creating a large explosion. He couldn't watch the collateral damage for long, as the fight continued.

Murcielago raised an arm, fingers spread out as if he was clutching some invisible object in the air. 'Sonar.' A tremendous wave of pressure filled the air as the Soul Wavelengths Murcielago created was intensified, After a second, a nearly colorless stream of energy left Murcielago's hand, only distinguished by the warping of the light around the stream.

"White Light!" The weapon discharged yet another white arc of energy, but as the two attacks collided, the arc of energy almost instantly evaporated under Murcielago's attack. The attack nevertheless missed its target, but he still stood stunned. The cloak of energy darkened until it was pitch-black, and the sword changed to nearly the same shade of black. "Black Light." He stabbed the air instead of releasing the attack as an arc, causing the strike to travel faster than Murcielago anticipated. The black stream of energy touched Murcielago just as he moved to the side, and the entire burst of energy spontaneously ignited in an explosion which engulfed Murcielago, and nearly the black Weapon as well.

The black Weapon backed off from the fight, and as he surveyed any places to sit the fight out, he noticed that in the rubble where the rogue White Light landed, a purplish-black crack in the ground shifted. He glanced back up at the still-rampaging explosion. With a sigh, he bent down over the crack. It was just large enough for him to slide through into the strange void beyond it. Just beyond it, he could marginally hear voices coming from the other side. He couldn't make out what they said, only that there were several.

'Impulso!' The explosion created by Black Light was shorn off almost immediately by an unseen force. From the middle, Murcielago appeared to be completely unharmed, save for a cut to his side where Black Light had struck him. Small shreds of Black Light lingered around Murcielago, their dying lights fading away giving him a demonic lighting. 'Impulso Directo!' A solid wall of reflected colors from the battle around them formed, and hurtled its way at the white Weapon. Deftly avoiding the burst of Soul Wavelengths, the Weapon's black cloak discharged again, this time in an wide arc. However, as the Black Light made grew close, it detonated prematurely, and was wiped away as before.

_Tensa_. The black Weapon froze. It was an inaudible sound, it had no source, but he had definitely heard it. He looked around for the source, however, the only thing in sight was the Weapon who looked strikingly similar to him and Murcielago. _Your name… My name… Is…_ In his hand, a pitch-black longsword formed in fragments.

"Tensa?" He asked aloud. The sword gleamed brilliantly as a White Light flew overhead. 'That voice…? _It sounds familiar…_ He thought in his head.

Wind blasted in his face as Tensa thought, forcing him outside of his head, and in the path of a White Light misfired from the white Weapon. Tensa's blade intercepted the Light, and sparks flew as he guided the wave of energy back at the source as he spun in a circle. Murcielago spun around sharply to look at Tensa, apparently not expecting the attack to be redirected. The white weapon simply avoided the attack by dropping in altitude, but he was clearly staring at Tensa.

Tensa rapidly approached the white Weapon, completely bypassing Murcielago. As the white and black blades clashed, electricity vibrated in the air. Murcielago watched from afar as Tensa replaced him in the battle. He blinked, and looked at the souls of the two contestants. Both were severely damaged, as he had suspected. Loose tendrils of their souls brushed and entwined, almost as if the two broken souls were trying to repair themselves. However, each time the swords made contact, the tendrils were blown off, and sparks between the souls were created. _Is this Soul Resonance? It doesn't make sense. Two opponents shouldn't be able to create a Resonance, especially if it's two Weapons._ He thought. A shockwave spilled off the edge of a clash, the two dragging their blade across the other's blade. _Then again, Semantics informed me that this Weapon would be able to attain an Auto-Soul Resonance- Soul Resonance without a Meister. Is what I'm seeing a pseudo Soul Resonance?_

As he was about to come to a conclusion, Tensa vanished with a dull vibration. Murcielago widened his eyes in shock, the warrior completely skipped through his following eyes. The white Weapon was confused as well, he was not able to follow the movements either. As he turned around, Tensa came into sight, his blade extended, just barely missing its target as the white Weapon jumped back.

"Black Light." The white weapon's black arc fired off, but Tensa didn't bother to move.

"Refraction." The black light struck a surface in the air, completely invisible, and the Black Light's energy was shot off in multiple streaks of different yet very dark colors. Each streak had a delayed explosion, but the shockwaves did not affect the wind pressure or velocity. The white Weapon was shocked. Before he could react, Tensa was inside the Weapon's personal space, his blade quickly closing in on his enemy's neck. However, the Weapon struck out himself, his black blade knocking Tensa's white blade out of harm's path.

Gaining additional space between the two, the weapon panted. "The hell did you just do?" He paused. "It doesn't matter, doesn't it feel wonderful? Can't you feel our souls vibrating?" He smiled, now composed again. His blade shimmered both black and white as he brandished his blade.

Four small fragments of Tensa's blade broke off and hovered in the air in front of him. "What's wrong with you?" He muttered motionlessly. Deciding on an attack at the last moment, the entire aura turned black as the Weapon swung his blade. Tensa drew his breath, and as the wave approached, a barely visible outline of a square appeared, each corner one of the fragments of his blade. "Reflection." The arc of energy appeared to slice directly through Tensa in the Weapon's perception, then he widened his eyes as he realized that his own attack had reversed momentum and was approaching him instead.

Releasing another White Light, the two waves of black-hardened energy collided. His second Light being weaker than his first, the majority of his original attack was still headed in his general direction, but in the form of excess energy. As the last shreds of white and black energy passed by him and the wind began to settle, the Weapon checked his field of vision. Murcielago hovered in the distance, his white mask betraying neither emotion nor thoughts. He was about to grow irritated when he found his target, hovering farther away than before, but still in range of his attacks.

Roaring, the Weapon's blade turned black as a huge burst of energy was prepared. Tensa stood in the background, his own blade lying at his side. Finally, after charging his Black Light for nearly half a minute, he discharged it, and with incredible speed, the Light was hurtling towards Tensa. However, as it approached, the white Weapon looked closely, and saw Tensa's lips move. The Black Light struck its target, but instead of detonating, the Black Light was deflected again, this time the Black Light's velocity could not be countered with either another Black Light or with evasion, and the Weapon had no choice – he was caught in the explosion of his own deflected attack.

The body of Tensa dissolved. The attack had not been completely deflected. As the Black Light was shorn in half, the other portion of the attack continued on its way through where the body of Tensa had been: the unintended target was the purple and black rift behind the body. As both Black Lights detonated, Tensa re-appeared, and two fragments of his blade returned to him in a small orange-ish lights. He rapidly approached the ongoing explosion near the rift, hoping that his opponent would be pre-occupied with his own attack.

'I cannot allow you to leave, even if you've created this much destruction.' Murcielago appeared, directly in front of Tensa. Shocked by the sheer speed he had just been witness of, Tensa jumped back. Narrowing his eyes, Tensa brandished his sword towards Murcielago.

"Stop me." Two visual copies of Tensa appeared, followed by four more coming from the two that had just appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Murcielago showed surprised, even though his mask. All of the copies of Tensa pushed forward, the individuals caught by Mucielago dissipated, until three had made it past him. However, the single copy of Tensa left had not moved, blade in hand and still pointing at Murcielago.

'Three of your visual distractions made it past me, yet you remain.' His spear completed a full circle in his hand. 'What was the purpose in distracting me if you weren't going to act on your diversion?'

Tensa smiled. Almost immediately after, he began to dissolve. Realizing his mistake and mustering all the speed he could without using the technique he had used to intercept Tensa before, he dashed towards the three remaining copies. _If anything, their target would be the rift out of the Forge, and out of Semantic's jurisdiction completely. They're trying to make it to the human world… Does he even really understand where he's even trying to go?_ Murcielago weighed his options. Semantics would normally be visible by now, which meant that he had gone into the depths of the Forge, and had left the broken swords to him.

Two waves of White Light broke Murcielago's train of thought. The waves were traveling faster than he was currently, and thinking quickly, he guided the two waves at Tensa's target. Stopping mid-flight, Murcielago spun around, guiding another White Light out of harm's way as the white Weapon dashed in on Murcielago.

The two Lights destroyed both of the remaining copies of Tensa, and forced him away from the rift he had been planning on voyaging through. The white Weapon neglected to stop, and collided in mid-flight with his blade and Murcielago's spear as he passed over him. Coming to a dramatic stop in the dead center between Murcielago and Tensa, the Weapon tilted his head.

"That's strange. I hear something." He paused, looking in Tensa's direction. "That's coming towards you. Are those voices? Maybe… Voices come from people… Maybe they can regenerate my soul! Make me strong again!" He took a single step forward, then stopped again, the three parties staring warily at each other. "This voice isn't like the others." He paused, listening intently.

Murclielago watched the two continue. "Ji… What? My name is what? I can't hear it very well…" The Weapon seemed nearly in a daze as it took a few steps closer to the void. "Tell me my name before…" Murcielago stopped him, spear jabbing towards his face. Grinning devilishly, he slashed at the spear, and dashed past Murcielago, making sure that the recoil from his attack would keep him busy for at least a few seconds.

Tensa watched from the lips of the purple maw as the Weapon passed him. The two's eyes met, and several minutes seemed to unfold between the two. Their souls' wavelengths tremored as they passed, but no reaction developed. The exchange ended as the Weapon dived into the rift, and vanished.

Now with only one outside party left Tensa watched as Murcielago hounded him down. However, he took one step into the void, and the spear that Murcielago had held was thrown, which he had barely avoided in his descent.

A pulse of green from the shockwave created by the spear's impact cleared away all traces of smoke and debris. Murcielago didn't both to reclaim his spear – it had faded away regardless. He walked towards the edge of the rift, but he could no longer feel either of the two souls' wavelengths from his perspective anymore. He had failed to keep the broken Yata Mirror's fragments in check. It was now Semantic's turn. After that, the it was Shinigami's hand which needed played.


	4. A Sound Mind

**AN: Alrighty, here we go at the dead of night. I wanted to finish this before I went to sleep. And this is the first chapter, finally complete. I worked hard on trying to get each character's conversations correct, and I think I nailed it, but really, I have no idea... It feels right...ish... to me. Also, I should note here and now, some critics give flak that some OCs end up being Mary-Sues. I'm trying to avoid that, because in my personal opinion, Tsushima is not my mouthpiece in this story. If she seems Mary-Sue-ish at first, I apologize, but I'm trying to set up her parameters right now. Anyways... R&R, and more importantly, enjoy!**

* * *

A Sound Soul

Dwells Within A Sound Mind

And A Sound Body

Maka awoke, earlier than normal. She looked at the souls around her, but all she could see was that they were all still asleep. She stretched, and looked at the ground blearily. In the fringe of her vision, she could see through her window the new dawn. Clouds were present and growing slightly thicker, but otherwise it seemed like it would be a beautiful day.

Hearing movement coming from below her, she dressed herself in her Academy uniform. Leaving her purple room and seeing the time, she decided to open a book and read. After half an hour past, she could hear noise coming from Soul's room. Eventually, Soul stumbled out of his room, bags under his eyes and had the aura of someone who had stayed up the entire night. As he closed the blue door behind him, he nodded towards Maka as he went to a cupboard to look for something to eat.

Their morning progressed like normal, and in due time, the two were at Death Academy. Sitting in their usual spots, Stein slowly wheeled in the room on his chair. When he reached the center of the platform, he stood up, and pushed his chair to the side.

Clearing his throat, he addressed the class. "In addition to regular classes, we will be holding a Weapon Meister gathering in two hours, starting during first Break. Those who want to participate in the gathering should meet with me before you leave during Break, in case you happen to stay longer than you predicted. Also, Lord Death has asked that those who are willing to participate in Sponsored Partnerships should ask for a meeting with him." He paused, sweeping his eyes across the room. "Other than that, the first topic on our agenda for the day is…"

Lord Death stood from a balcony overlooking an auditorium. The gathering of Meisters and Weapons was still ten minutes from actually taking place, but some new students had already entered the room and were looking around. Spirit stood by his side, overlooking the slowly growing body of students. As the minutes passed, there were easily around thirty to forty new students in the room. Finally, Lord Death cleared his throat, and poked Spirit.

Rolling his eyes, Spirit stepped forward. "Thank you all for attending this gathering today. The purpose, as you all should be aware of now, is to help match both Meisters and Demon Weapons together to create teams and make your partners stronger. Those of you who are Weapons will in due time become Death Scythes for Lord Death himself, and Meisters who create them will become strong warriors capable of wielding such weapons."

Lord Death nodded. In his whimsical voice, he exclaimed, "Have at it you guys! I'm looking forward to hearing good news about you all."

The mass of people mixed. A few late newcomers arrived as well, and dispersed in the crowd. After several minutes, Death the Kid, in his usual attire entered the room looking from afar at the mass of new students. Liz and Patty followed in suit, Patty in awe of how many students there were. Watching the tide of students wax and wane as they talked created a white noise.

However, Kid's watchful eyes eventually found a glitch in the mix. One student seemed to be unable to find anyone to talk to. Simply, it seemed as if people were avoiding her. She stood out awkwardly in the crowd as the mix ignored her. In desperation, she toyed with her messy black hair. The girl wore a silver and red jacket extending to her midriff, where a white shirt took over. She wore black pants, which the legs were slightly too long for her. Black tennis shoes, and three silver bangles on her left arm, and a typical Meister badge on her chest completed her outfit

Deciding on relieving the tension for her, Kid stepped forward, Liz and Patty following. The girl sighed, and tried to talk to someone else, but bumped into Kid.

"Uh… S-sorry!" She bowed. "I didn't mean to-"

Kid smiled. "It's alright, you don't have to worry. You hit me directly in the center of my chest."

Liz sighed. "Is that your greeting?" She responded for the girl, who was taken aback by Kid's acceptance.

"Are you guys already Meister and Weapon?" The girl asked. She paused, and remembered her manners. "Sorry, my name is "Tsushima. Natsumi Tsushima."

"My name is Kid. Death the Kid. But I'm fine with Kid. On my left," he pointed at Liz, "Is Elizabeth Thompson, and on my right," pointing at Patti, "Is Patricia Thompson."

"You can call us Liz and Patti for short." Patti interjected.

"N-nice to meet you. A-as I was saying, who is who here? If Kid's the Meister, than which one of you is the Weapon?" Natsumi asked, tilting her head.

"We're both his Weapons. It's uncommon, but it still happens. There are a few other students who have more than one Weapon as a partner." Liz explained.

Natsumi was struck with awe. "Amazing… I never knew about that…"

"It's probably because you've never been to Death Academy before. You'll get used to this sort of thing." Kid's eyes glinted as he noticed a spark between their souls. "Why aren't you mixing here? This gathering _is_ meant to help Meisters and Weapons come together to form partnerships."

Natsumi's eyes hooded over. "N-nobody seems to be able to keep a conversation with me for over a couple minutes…"

"I… I see. It is kind of difficult for some people to have their souls connect, since everyone's so different." Liz nodded.

"How about we have lunch one of these days together?" Patti asked. "If you didn't know that, then there is a whole bunch more that we could teach you about!"

Natsumi flinched. "A-ah… Sure." Kid's eyes glinted again. He noted his observation, but said nothing.

"Anyways, Kid, we have to get going. You haven't forgotten have you? We accepted that mission on the bulletin board to hunt the souls that have been antagonizing Paris lately." Liz reminded.

Kid nodded. "Good luck, Tsushima. We'll be back." Kid turned around, and Patti waved as she and Liz followed as well.

"Huh. Two Weapons and a Meister. That'd be pretty cool." She closed her eyes, and imagined herself with two blank figures while the three performed a successful Soul Resonance. She sighed as she opened her eyes, looking down. "As if that'd happen at this rate." Looking back up, she scanned the room for someone looking for someone to talk to.

The gathering of Meisters and Demon Weapons continued, and eventually, after three hours it ended. Acquaintances were made, and several new partnerships were made. After the pairs who had successfully gotten together were led off to basic Supplementary Classes in the Dance Studios, the individuals remaining were left in the room. The few, numbering eight, looked out of place. Standing on the side of the group was Natsumi, still unpaired.

Lord Death, who had been dozing off during the gathering snapped to attention, and stood up from his chair. He looked down on the group, and addressed the remaining group. "Well, not everyone can find a suitable partner their first time around. We'll be having another one of these little gatherings in around a month or two when we have enough new students again. Don't be distressed, you'll all meet someone who'll be your Meister or Weapon soon." He consoled. "But anywho, in the meantime, we'll get you guys situated in Death City for now."

Spirit took over. "For now, you'll be orientated with your classrooms and teachers now and be relocated to your new apartment once classes are over." All present shuffled a bit. "For now, I'll be dividing you amongst the classes you'll be attending." Jumping over the edge of the balcony, Spirit made a complete flip and a solid, perfect landing, his arms outstretched in a dramatic fashion. A couple students flinched in exasperation. Gleaming in a self-imposed glorious pose, he quickly realized that the students were slowly backing away from him.

Lord Death assumed control. "Now, now… My eccentric friend will direct you outside so you can get started…"

Outside of the auditorium, Spirit had divided the remaining eight into three groups based on information Natsumi could not discern. Three had gone to one class, four to another, both of the classes' names she couldn't remember. All she knew is that she was the only student to be sent to a class on her own, being Class Crescent Moon. Spirit personally attended to escorting her to her class.

Along the walk, passing through the huge building of corridors and pathways, Natsumi watched Sprit's facial expressions. He seemed ecstatic as they approached their destination, and as his expressions continued to change, she tilted her head as he continued guiding her. _Does he even remember that I'm following him right now…?_ She wondered.

Eventually, the two came open a room with a sign hanging out from, declaring the room Class Crescent Moon. Natsumi welled up her courage, but with supremely dazzling force, Spirit burst open the door, in a rosy and overly cheerful aura.

"Maakaaa!" He yelled out in bliss. Natsumi was taken back in utter shock at Spirit's behavior. She took a hesitant step into the lightly crowded room, when a book flying out of nowhere collided directly into Spirit's forehead.

"Papa! Don't just come barging in here, fool!" A voice called out. Natsumi looked curiously, still recovering from the recoil of the shock of recent events.

"Your glorious father has come to your class and you treat him so harshly!?" Spirit whimpered, a book-shaped indent in his head. Natsumi looked closer into the room, and found the subject of Spirit's fondness, Maka.

Completely ignoring her father, Maka looked at the newcomer. "Huh? Who are you?" She asked, recovering her book from the floor.

Stein, previously ignored until now, spoke up. "Spirit? This is Free-Study, but you're creating a commotion. Are you here because we have a new student?"

Spirit's demeanor shifted. Natsumi was shocked at how quickly the happy-go-lucky aura had changed into a business-like one. "Yes. One student who was unable to find a match at the gathering. She'll be spending the rest of the day here, then the rest of her orientation will continue after classes."

Stein grasped the screw in his head, and twisted it a couple of times. "That's fine enough. You can go."

In a fit of annoyance, Spirit stomped at the ground repeatedly. "You can't just dismiss me like that! Who do you think I am!"

"An annoyance, right now." He said blatantly. "Anyways, why don't you introduce yourself? There are no unpaired Meisters or Weapons in my homeroom at this time, but it never hurts to make acquaintances and friends."

Natsumi timidly stepped past the still recoiling Spirit. Not many heads looked up, but she could sense that they were all paying attention. "U… Uh… My name is…" Her voice faded out for a second. "My name is Tsushima Natsumi. I just arrived here… I don't have a partner…" She faded out once more.

At that precise moment, an overpowering and exorbitant soul appeared behind her. "Yahoo! Don't worry guys, I know you guys probably were dreading every minute not being in my awesome presence, but I, great Master Assassin Black Star have returned!" He yelled, strutting into the room. "Oh. Someone else has taken the stage from me!?" He pointed his finger at Natsumi. "And who are you!? I've never seen you before!"

Tsubaki, standing behind him, grabbed his ear and pulled him back, whispering into his ear. "There was another gathering for new students! Don't you pay any attention to things I say?" She moaned.

"O-Of course not! I'm the great Black Star, how dare you think I've forgotten something like that!" Black Star retorted. Black Star returned his attention to the new student, but was taken aback when she was no longer present. Searching the room, he noticed that she had hid herself in one of the corners of the lecture hall. "I guess I was a bit ahead of the times."

Stein sighed impatiently. "That was Tsushima Natsumi. Now, for the rest of the students, since concentration will most likely be unable to be obtained at this point, class is dismissed." He sighed, and pulled out a cigarette and walked to the corner seat that Natsumi had hidden by. "I'll be taking over from here Spirit. You go…" He twisted the screw in his head again. "Do something."

Several more minutes of banter passed, during which almost all of the students save for Tsubaki, Black Star, Maka, and Soul left. Stein extended his hand to Natsumi. "You're going to need to have a place to stay, so we should get around to finding an open apartment for you." Natsumi accepted the motion, and after standing up, Stein led her to a receptionist after a quick farewell to the others.

It took several minutes of dialogue, and more waiting, but eventually the receptionist had managed to find an open apartment. Natsumi got directions from Stein where her new place would be, and after meandering through Death City; she eventually wound up at the apartment building she would be staying at. She stared at the multi-colored building and debated the stability of how some of the rooms stuck out of the building. Never the less, she stepped foot inside the building, looking at the slip of paper her room would be.

"505." She thought aloud. The apartments near her were all labeled 100 something or another. The building was multiple stories tall, so she reasoned that her room would be on the fifth floor. It wasn't difficult finding a staircase, and she was on the fifth floor in no time. "515…" She counted the doors she passed aloud. "510, 509, 508, 507… Ah, that should be it." She skipped over to her door. The door of 506 opening intercepted her, however. Curiosity stopped her, and she saw Maka exit the apartment. Both stood extremely still.

"Oh, you're-" They both said consecutively.

Natsumi bowed. "S-Sorry, you can go first."

Maka put a hand behind her head. "No, that's okay. We met at Death Academy. You're… Tsushima, right?"

Natsumi nodded. "Y-yes. I was just headed towards my room. Do you live in 506?"

"Yeah, I do. I also live with Soul and Blair. Which apartment are you living in?" Maka asked.

She smiled, flashing her slip of paper which had 505 written on it. "I guess I'm your neighbor then!"

"What's going on?" Soul's voice echoed from the apartment.

Maka opened the closing door. "That girl from earlier is here. She's our neighbor now."

Soul appeared shortly after, crossing his arms. "Odd. You got an apartment this far out, but you don't have a-" He stopped, noting that Natsumi appeared crestfallen. "Normally, partners are given apartments this far away from the Academy." He shrugged.

Natsumi tilted her head, remembering what Maka had mentioned earlier. "I thought someone else also lived there?"

Soul stretched. "Yeah, there's a cat by the name of Blair that lives here. Don't be surprised if you see a Witch. She's… Eccentric like that. But don't worry; she's just a cat. If you're really curious, she should be working at Chupa Cabra's right now." After looking at Natsumi's confused expression, he explained the purpose of the place. Natsumi blushed.

She shook her head. "A-anyways, I think I want to go look at my new place. Anyways, if I held you up any, I apologize." Natsumi said.

Maka waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, no, it's not a problem. When you get time to chat again, my door's open."

Natsumi blushed slightly. "Th-thank you a lot!" She exclaimed, and then opened the door to her new home.


	5. A Sound Body

**AN: This... Is a lot longer than I was expecting. Oh well. Not sure if it could have been split up, but I wanted to achieve at least one thing, and that was allowing Natsumi to be incorporated into the school before I began making things tense. Oh well. Enjoy~**

* * *

Thunder crashed in the distance. However, Natsumi could hardly be more distracted from her new home. She wandered through the empty room, as none of her possessions had arrived from where she had lived before, and discovered that his flat similarly had two rooms, a living room and kitchen fused to one, and single bathroom. As she explored her new den, life carried on.

The sun laughed as the day wore on. As day gave out to night, the moon replaced the sun. Most of the shops were closing now, and Natsumi decided to stare at the cityscape of Death City from her balcony.

She sensed a sudden surge of soul-wavelengths. Looking into the distance, she saw a figure flying into the city. It was difficult to see from the sheer distance, but she could make out three souls, one red soul with three white stripes on one half of it entering the city, and two pinks souls, both extremely close. The figure appeared to be heading towards Death Academy, dashing with speed. Soon, she realized that it was Death, Liz, and Patty flying in the sky, but she couldn't figure out how. She smiled when she realized that she was already starting to recognize people.

Soon, after Death's figure vanished from her point of view, she watched the moon. It gave a chuckle to some unknown joke. She pondered on the meaning of the sudden laugh.

"Watching the night sky?" Soul's voice startled here. Natsumi looked from her balcony at Soul leaning over the railing of his balcony backwards. "It's a cool way to relax."

Natsumi nodded. "Y-yeah. It is. I just saw Kid not too long ago. He was flying…" She said in both awe and confusion.

"Oh, you've met Kid already? When'd'ya do that?"

"He was at the gathering. I accidentally bumped into him during the confusion of everyone moving around." Natsumi explained.

"I didn't know that Kid was doing that 'sponsored partnerships' thing. I thought his plate was full with Liz and Patti…" Soul sounded exasperated. "I mean, I wouldn't imagine having two Meisters. I mean, I worked with Black Star for a bit awhile ago, but that turned out to be a total failure."

Natsumi giggled. "It's tough seeing the two of you together. In a Meister-Weapon relationship, of course."

"You don't have to tell me. I bet he still has a scar from when I split open his head." He chuckled. "He's a bit strange, but around here, everyone has a quirk or two which makes us unique. Maybe your quirk is… Well, as you are now."

"As I am?" Natsumi paused. "Oh. Yeah. I suppose. It's strange though, would they even let me accept missions from the bulletin?"

Soul scratched his head. "One way to find out."

Natsumi yawned. "I'm getting kinda tired. I think I might be going to sleep in a bit."

"I'm not that boring to talk to, am I? I mean, it's not even nine o'clock!" Soul teased.

Natsumi, oblivious to the joke, shook her head. "It just feels like there was a bit too much excitement today."

Soul twisted to look at Natsumi directly. "Too much? Today was pretty ordinary, nothing too cool happened today."

Clouds began to cover the sky. "Huh." Natsumi sighed. "I've never really had many people to associate with. I've usually always just been by myself. Not that I've ever had a problem with it." She slumped over her rail.

Soul raised an eyebrow. "Don't ya think that might be why you weren't able to find a partner at the mixer?"

Assuming the same pose on her back like Soul, Natsumi shrugged. "Never thought about it that way." She smiled. "I'm so introverted that I don't want to meet new people? People avoid me because they can somehow sense that I don't want interaction?"

Soul straightened up. "Whoa, I didn't imply that." He raised his hands cautiously. "I meant that you're just used to being alone?"

Natsumi smirked. "A question? Ugh…" She frowned again. "Maybe Lord Death is right, I just haven't found anyone who can sync up with my own soul yet." She yawned yet again.

Soul smiled. "That's a good way to look at it. Anyways, it looks as if you really are tired, you should probably go to sleep. Being tired isn't cool."

Natsumi nodded, and the two exchanged farewells. The passing night brought rain, and storms severe enough for lightning to develop. The desert heat from Nevada seemed to amplify the storms further. The unusual amount of rain was becoming more common within the last few weeks, but this storm's potential stuck around as it stagnated. When Natsumi awoke in the morning, the cloud cover intimidated her.

The sky was extremely dark, not quite to the level where it seemed like a starless night sky, but the clouds were threatening with lightning racing in the clouds. It had temporarily stopped raining, but as Natsumi set up and turned on her TV, which had almost conveniently arrived to her door overnight, she found that it was a dry spot in the unusually large storm.

Seeing as the storm would be starting again in her area soon enough, she decided to take advantage of the little to no rain outside, and after dressing herself in the school outfit she donned for herself, she made a mad dash to Death Academy. Just reaching the foot of the gargantuan flight of stairs to the school, it started to sprinkle. Within seconds, it was heavily pouring rain down on Death Academy. Now completely drenched, she gave up on the aspect of being dry, and made the grueling climb.

Panting, she finally made the top of the stairs, disgruntled and irritated at the rain. She could just barely make out the laughter of the sun, but she wasn't sure if she wasn't just imagining it. Walking into the school, with at over an hour before classes even began, she created a small stream of water as she waddled to a restroom. It seemed that others had tried her idea as well to try to take advantage of the lightening in the rain, but some had ceased caring. Annoyed that she was wearing a white shirt, she locked herself in a bathroom stall, and tried to wring her cloths dry.

After removing most of the moisture out of the cloths, she exited the bathroom, accompanied by a sneeze. Sighing, she picked at her cloths as she wandered the halls to Crescent Moon. She passed by the library on the way there, but decided against entering for now. Eventually reaching Crescent Moon, she noticed that the lecture hall was virtually empty, save for the lustrous presence of Professor Stein, who had been distracted by reading a rather thick book. Excusing herself in early, she caught Stein's attention from his distant mindedness.

Listening to the rain pour from outside, Stein lowered his book slightly, and twisted the screw in his head. "This storm, from what I've heard, is supposed to last for three days." He stated casually. After getting no initial response, Stain continued. "I thought I'd mention it in case you decided to wear white clothing again." He said, his eyes falling back to his book.

Natsumi wasn't sure of how to respond. "Erm… Thanks… I guess?"

Stein, blissfully ignorant or cleverly dismissive, kept his composure. "Don't mention it." He twisted his screw again. "Say," He paused, working on his wording.

Natsumi tilted her head. "Yes, Professor?"

Stein reclined on his chair. "I have this tendency to want to understand things."

"I… See?"

"To understand means I must examine, and test."

"Is this why you became a teacher? Is it because you want to learn?" Natsumi asked, unsure of where this conversation was going.

"I'm curious about something related to you." Stein's eyes hooded over, and he began to slowly smile.

Natsumi edged backwards. "I… I'm not sure what you mean…"

Stein stood up hastily. "I want to examine you. Your soul, specifically. Since it's still before classes begin, we have plenty of time if you wish to have an extracurricular study." He pulled on his gloves. "It's nothing painful, I assure you."

Terror ran amok through Natsumi. "I-I think I might consider passing up this oppor-" She slowly stopped midway as she turned around to leave, only to flinch as she found Stein blocking the way. Weakly, she finished her sentence. "…tunity…"

Lightning illuminated the lecture hall. "Now, don't be unreasonable…" In her mind, Natsumi screamed 'There's no way in hell that you're being reasonable!' "After all, it's just a simple visual test."

Natsumi hugged her still-damp cloths. "A visual test? What are you even talking about?"

Stein twisted the screw in his head once again. "After all of the people in the gathering, you were the only individual who was not able to find even a single compatible partner." He paused, still screwing with his head. "The others you saw were able to find at least two or more individuals to whom they could have been able to become partners with, but ended up being singled out. You though, I heard you were different."

Natsumi flinched. "J-just what do you mean? And how does this relate to your strange visual test?"

A cheerful aura plastered the scene. "Why, I want to observe your soul's reactions."

Natsumi's eyes hooded over. "Wha-what?"

"It's just a simple examination. All you have to do is let your soul expand. I'll take care of all of the rest." Stein explained. "If I notice any irregularities in your soul, I'll note it, and we'll discuss them." He looked at a clock on the wall. "Time's ticking."

A vein appeared on Natsumi's head. "F-fine." She took a deep breath, and relaxed as her soul's visibility increased.

Stein stared at her soul. It was cyan, and tremored slightly as his Soul Perception fully registered its target. A relaxed cyan soul, with what appeared to be a scar on the side of the soul, and a small blush, stared back at Stein.

In a now serious note, he crossed his arms. "Do you have any scars? A large one, in particular?" Natsumi shook her head. "I assume you know what a soul is, but do you know all of its functions?" Natsumi swayed unsure how to answer. "It doesn't matter. I'll be going over it briefly in class. Basically…"

After he finished his explanation, he addressed her soul. "I can see using even basic Soul Perception that you are unusually reserved. But the eyes of your soul are also unusually detailed. There are no coincidences between souls and their vessel's abilities. You can see souls yourself, can't you?"

Natsumi nodded. "Of course. Isn't it a universal ability for Meisters? That's why I was enrolled, no?"

"I'm guessing you were initially enrolled due to the fact that your soul was strong enough to be considered for enrollment." He paused. "But they never expected that." He pointed at Natsumi's soul scar in his mind. "Technically, not everyone can see souls. The ability of Soul Perception requires the individual to be sensitive to soul wavelengths I the air and is able to concentrate on those sparse waves." Adjusting the screw in his head as per habit, he waved. "You can retract your soul now. We won't have time to do the experiments I want to do right now if I'm still supposed to hold class. But why don't you use your Soul Perception on me?"

Natsumi nodded, and instantly saw Stein's stitched up soul. It was carefree and floated around him. Stein noticed that she was tracking his soul. "Impressive. I had not expanded my soul yet. Your innate ability of Soul Perception would be useful in a battle. Of course, it all depends on how you use it." He walked down to his desk, and began to write something on a piece of paper.

Following Stein and looking curiously, she indulged her curiosity. "What are you writing? Notes?"

Stein shook his head, still jotting down words. "It's a recommendation that you can begin Extracurricular activities without a partner to help develop your Soul Perception. It's also a request to add additional courses to your schedule," at which Natsumi moaned in displeasure, "And I'll be overlooking these new classes."

Groaning, she complained. "But I'm already filled out in as many classes as I was allowed…"

"Quite the studious one then. Don't worry, these courses will not strictly add to your workload." He slipped the note, which had multiplied into multiple slips, into an envelope. "These are called _Extra_curricular for a reason. Go deliver this to the receptionists at Student Assistance. Don't dawdle too long, classes start in twenty."

Sighing, Natsumi made her to change her class schedule. After waiting the tedious duration it took to add the classes, she was given a new schedule. Regular classes took place for her from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon, with two hour-long breaks between the noon hour and two. She had only fifteen minutes before the newly added extra classes begun, which lasted until Seven Forty-five at night.

And so her classes passed. When four came along, she stayed behind to attend her after-class classes. She joked with Maka and Tsubaki as they left, then sat around as two other students came in. One wore what appeared to be white robes, the neck and legs frayed, worn, and torn, with a purple sash around his waist and a purple bandana currently around his neck. The other was a girl who was dressed closely to an informal butler with black slacks, a white shirt under a black waistcoat and a white cravat, which had found its way to a loosened state.

Almost immediately, the girl sat in a seat and lifted her legs up onto her chair and leaned back. The boy took a seat in between Natsumi and the girl, but was the most composed as he closed his eyes as he waited. Stein had left to prepare for his next class, and as the minutes ticked by, the three in the room were the only ones who showed up.

Stein walked into the room as four-fifteen hit the clock. Instead of walking onto the center stage of the lecture hall, he sat on the steps. He stared at the group of three, sitting near the front. "This class is a special class that I've been placed in charge of this time around. Welcome to Soul Compatibility Rehab. I will be your instructor here. You may call me either Professor Stein, or just simply Stein if you wish. You should introduce yourselves to each other."

Without loosing composure or even moving a muscle, the boy in the robes spoke. "My name is Suzuki Eisen. I am a Weapon. That is all."

The girl straightened out a bit. "What's the point of the formal introductions? It's just us four." She paused when Stein's expression remained the same. "Fine. My name is Fumihiko Sayoko. I'm a Weapon too. Jeez, was this necessary?" She finished, muttering.

Natsumi stood up. "I-I am Tsushima Natsumi. I am a Meister…" She quickly sat back down.

_This is not going to be an easy bunch._ Stein thought. "That'll do, I suppose. Now, between us four, there will be no secrets kept from each other. Your souls are each unique in the fact that you were unable to find anyone who was able to match your souls wavelengths."

Fumihiko interrupted. "Of course they couldn't! Someone like those people wouldn't possible be able to even conceive such a thought of being able to match a soul wavelength like mine! I'm a weapon of such intense beaut-"

Stein carried on, apparently uninterested in Fumihiko's speech, or had completely ignored it to begin with. "Therefore, the purpose of this class will be teaching you how to modify your own soul so you can achieve at least a basic soul connection.

"Normally, Soul Modification is considered to be impossible without changing the character and personality of the individual. However, for unique cases such as yours, we will not be performing actual S-Mod. You will be assigned, throughout a period of time, to a Meister and Weapon group, and you will carry out any mission they are given, as well as well as undertaking Extracurricular activities involving sparring.

"This class always seems to have at least one student who fails. This class is particularly small this term, so let's try to avoid that." Stein finished. "For now, your assignment will be to find a group of Meisters and Weapons you prefer to assist in our project, which is to help create compatibility in your soul's wavelengths. We will be meeting in two days. Make your decision wisely, and make sure that at least one representative of your circle will be able to make it with you. Dismissed."

_This class is supposed to be an hour and a half! We're out within 15 minutes? What is this?_ Natsumi grunted mentally. _Anyways, who am I supposed to ask to help with this project? Is it a test for us to work together?_ She thought of her dual Weapon partner fantasy, but disregarded it. She could see from the souls of her classmates that it would be impossible. Fumihiko's soul was haughty, prideful, and eccentric beyond reason. Suzuki's soul was reserved, but even the usually happy expression was solemn, cold, and uncaring. Just looking at it gave Natsumi shivers.

"If we are dismissed, I am leaving." Suzuki Eisen stood up, and almost immediately walked out. Sayoko grunted, following.

_Yeah. This isn't going to be the most fun class I've ever taken…_ With an hour and fifteen minutes before her next class, a simple half-hour Soul Perception class, she decided to wander the halls of Death Academy. She decided to spend her time by visiting the library, and made her way there. As she entered the library, she found familiar faces inside.

Cautiously walking forward, she announced her presence. "H-hey, Kid, Patti, Liz." She found that there was a fourth person she had never seen before. He… Or she, the subject of her inquisition was so androgynous she couldn't make out which. Nevertheless, they sported pink hair and a black dress. _Interesting._ "And…?"

Kid looked up from a book he had been reading. Patti was still distracted from the manga she was reading, but Liz was unoccupied, and tipped her hat to Natsumi. "Oh, Tsushima. What brings you here at this time?" Kid asked.

Natsumi scratched her head. "My schedule got a sudden upgrade. I have three hours of Extracurricular classes that I'm suddenly taking."

"What, then shouldn't you be in class right now?" Liz asked.

Natsumi shook her head. "Funny story about that, actually. Professor Stein let us go after explaining what the class was about. He also told us our first assignment, which isn't even really homework…"

Kid smirked. "Stein? That must mean… Some sort of remedial course."

Avoiding his eyes, she responded. "You could say something like that. It's more like a… rehabilitation class."

"Soul Compatibility Rehabilitation Class." The boy, Natsumi decided, said.

Kid looked at Crona. "How did you know Crona?"

He pointed at a slip of paper in Natsumi's pocket. Just barely visible from its current position, the name of her class, as well as the time, could be read. "I read the paper in her pocket. Should I have done that?"

Patti, as if she had been in the conversation the entire time, exclaimed, "You're good, but if you didn't tell us how, you could have pretended you were psychic!"

Crona looked startled. "But I don't know how to deal with being psychic! If I was psychic, would I have to read other people's minds? How would I deal with that? I don't know what to do if I was psychic!" He exclaimed.

A small voice piped out of nowhere. "But you're not psychic, punk. Don't worry about it, you won't ever have to deal with it."

"Easy Ragnarok. We can't start something in the library." Liz warned.

"Yeah, fine. I don't care what you guys do. It's a nuisance if this punk gets worried. I might start _that_ again." Ragnarok's voice retreated.

Natsumi's expression was priceless. "W-what was that?"

Kid chuckled. "In time, in time. Anyways, this is Crona." He introduced.

Bowing, Natsumi responded likewise. "Nice to meet you… Crona. I'm Tsushima Natsumi."

Cautiously, he returned the motion. "It's good to meet y-you too."

Patti resumed reading her manga. "Anyways, you said that you had an assignment from this class of yours. What was it?" Kid asked. He stood up, and motioned for Liz and Natsumi to follow. Crona followed regardless.

Natsumi shuddered, remembering how Stein had intimidated her that morning. "W-well… I'm supposed to find a group of Meisters and Weapons." She said.

"Sounds easy enough. There's an abundance of students here at Death Academy." Liz casually stated. "Sounds like a test to get your class together, but that would only be too easy. How many students are in your class?" she asked.

"Just three of us. Our class is so tiny… I thought the same; maybe Professor Stein is going to solve everything by making at least two of us partners. But he said he wanted a representative to come along or something. Someone from the group of Meisters and Weapons I chose to be with. I still have to figure out who I can actually do this with."

Liz looked aghast. "What? Have you never even considered us? We would be more than willing to help with this project!"

Kid froze. In his head, he was doing a head count of the party. _Black Star, Tsubaki, Maka, Soul, Tsushima, Liz, Patti, and me._ He sighed. "There'd be eight of us, unless Crona is interested." He shot a maniacal look at him. _If you join, this beautiful number of eight will be destroyed! Annihilated!_

"S-sure, I don't mind helping." Crona replied.

Utter shock coursed through Kid. He looked broken, pale, and his spirit seemed to leave his body. "Oi, Kid? What's wrong?" Liz asked, worriedly.

Barely conscious, Kid muttered intelligibly. "There'll be nine of us… It's not symmetrical… There's no way that you can make the number nine symmetrical… But the shape… There may be hope!" Suddenly life began to blaze in his eyes. "There's eleven lines of symmetry in a nonagon! Eleven is vertically and horizontally symmetrical… In certain fonts… And there would be the same amount of people on either side of me!"

Natsumi backed up. "Wh-what's wrong with Kid!?" She asked in shock.

Liz sighed. "He's obsessed with symmetry. It's nearly gotten him killed before, too." She explained to Natsumi. "KID! Listen up!" She barked. "Before Crona, there were only seven of us! You survived then, didn't you? And even before you met the others, it was just us three!"

Death the Kid raised a finger. "Ah, but in a heptagon, there would be three on each side of me, which is horizontally symmetrical. There's also rotational symmetry in a heptagon…"

At this point, even Patti joined in. "Aw, snap out of it Kid! Just dismiss it like you do with the stripes on your head!"

Blood spilled out of Kid's mouth.

After the symmetry affair was concluded, the group noticed how much time had passed. With little under five minutes to be at her next class, Natsumi bid her friends goodbye. _I called them… My friends!_ She realized, as she rushed towards her next extra class.

Arriving at her next class, she stopped to look at the sign of the room. It read Black Moon. She walked into the lecture hall, remembering that this short class was supposed to be a one-on-one class. Expecting to see Stein, due to prior circumstances, she was surprised to see someone completely new in the room. Or rather, dead. And decayed. Unsure of how to approach the subject, since the zombie-like character had not noticed her yet, she froze at the hallway, her look of mild pleasance etched onto her face.

Behind Natsumi, a clock clicked, and created something of a thud. The zombie looked up to the clock, but instead saw Natsumi, and waved. "You must be Tsushima, correct?" Natsumi was still etched in shock. "You may call me Sid. I was once a man of science, and even to this day, I am a teacher. A longing to help mould the minds of children, that's the kind of man I was."

"HUAH?" Far from a legendary and levelheaded greeting. It took her several seconds for her to recompose herself. "Guh… Uh… N-nice to meet you, Professor Sid?"

Sid clapped. "That is who I was. Now, you have what appears to be a perfect attendance so far. The first day counts, or at least, that's what the man I used to be thought." He paused, setting a stack of papers on his desk. "Now. Franken Stein recommended that you take one of these classes. Do you know why?"

"I have Soul Perception?"

"Yes. Not only, but you have an innate prowess with it as well, apparently. I'm going to test that, along with the one other theory that Franken has given me." Sid scratched his chin. "I think that it might be easier to test that theory out later in a group Extracurricular meeting. For now, don't worry about it as Franken is experimenting with an ability that is far too rare for it to show up on his doorstep."

Natsumi tilted her head. "You can't just tell me, then not tell me. You can, but… Telling me not to be interested makes me more interested."

"Senrigan, or a variant of it. Extremely rare, extremely useful, potential in your blood. This man believes it might be possible." He stopped, and brought out several small trinkets. "Now enough dilly-dallying. Let's begin your lesson."

A half hour later, the class ended. It consisted of nothing but how far along Natsumi's Soul Perception had progressed. In the end, it felt like she had made no progress at all, but Sid had dismissed it, saying that the kind of man who knows where to start is the kind of man he once was.

Her final class was with Lord Death's personal Death Scythe, Spirit. She recalled her previous encounter, although at the time, he didn't know that she would be a student, she still doubted him. Her last class, Class Silver Blade, was smaller than most of the other lecture halls she had been in. Spirit stood behind the podium, his back to the door.

"Excuse me?" Natsumi called, walking in.

Spirit turned around. "You are… The girl that I escorted earlier." He acknowledged. "Sorry, but I actually canceled the class for today. Something's come up. As far as I can see, I might have to keep canceling this class." He seemed oddly serious. Well, at least, more serious than he did earlier. "Have a good evening. If anyone turns up, could you do me a favor and stay behind a couple of minutes and tell them that class was canceled?"

"Sure?" Natsumi said. As soon as Spirit left, she took a shortcut and simply wrote that class had been canceled on a blackboard, and left herself.

And thus, Natsumi was incorporated into the life at Death City. True enough, the rain kept on for two more days, but taking company in Soul and Maka, who also conveniently accepted to be the representatives of her circle, she spent the first week in bliss.

Blinded by distractions of a new semester, only a select few saw the coming disaster.


	6. Dreams of an Epilogue I

**AN:** Alright, we're back in business. Had a bit of writer's block, so I took some time off, and decided to try a different approach to the chapter. And, this is what I've come up with. Dreams of an Epilogue isn't like Prologus, as it's going to be separated and infrequent, due to the nature and mechanics of the chapters. But, without further ado, Chapter 3.

* * *

It was night. An unnatural red darkness surrounded the world as a gigantic ether-like sphere completed its form in the night sky. The object was so monumentally large it eclipsed the moon in its entirety. It hovered in the sky as a slaughter underneath unfolded.

The ground has been rendered asunder. Rocks and crags littered the landscape, with a gleaming city fostering the background. No plant life remained, as all had been either blown away or incinerated. Wind blasted the ground as artificial wind currents were created from the airborne satellite.

Black Star was heavily wounded. He held Tsubaki in his hands in her Enchanted Blade mode. Scratches grazed the blade, and reflected in it, Tsubaki too was wounded. Yet he stood his ground, mouthing words that did not sound.

Kid kneeled; both Liz and Patti had assumed their Soul Resonance form, small chips of metal had been knocked off from the apparent battle. Kid's wounds were not as grievous as Black Star's, but regardless he was no longer in fighting condition.

Maka used Soul in his Scythe form to keep herself on her feet. She had a large cut on her waist, along with smaller wounds all over. Soul too, was in bad condition, reflecting in how his blade had been cracked and chipped.

Natsumi lied on the ground, a large, gaping wound which spanned across her chest and her waist, bleeding steadily. In addition, a pitch-black blade pierced through her shoulder, but the pressure was enough that it caused no bleeding. It sparked with black electricity as Natsumi's eyes slowly wandered. Her eyes were glazed over, and she seemed to be on the verge of passing on. Either through subconscious means, or the last of her will, her eyes fixed on the new moon in the sky.

Facing the group was Asura, perfectly calm. He had nearly no wounds, as he had been able to fend off most of the attacks thrown his way. Several feet above Asura, a white Kishin, cloaked in white robes riddled with spikes and chains, hovered. This man's eyes were wracked with madness, but it was separate and somehow different from the madness gushing out of Asura. Above him was a large crack in the sky, a sliver of some substance which reflected nothing, branching out asymmetrically.

The Kishin in white raised his arms fanatically, laughing- all without making a noise. Taking out a white blade identical to the black blade embedded in Natsumi's shoulder, he pointed at the object in the sky. He yelled, but no noise seemed to travel. His expression slowly turned serious as the bottom of the gigantic object lit with a black blaze.

The orb fully lit: a process taking around a minute, eventually changed again. Maka's eyes flashed as she looked at the orb at another perspective. Natsumi too, used her Soul Perception, but only Maka was able to comprehend what she saw. Two giant horizontal slits appeared on the surface of object, which as they suddenly jolted open the form of a gigantic black soul was revealed. The two huge white eyes developed silver pupils, and the danced around, observing everything. A mouth developed, large, fanged, and sharp with teeth.

Both groups exchanged dialogue, but no words were able to be heard. The white-cloaked Kishin moved with such speed it appeared he had teleported. His hand reached out to the black blade. Electricity jolted through Natsumi as the Weapon resisted the Kishin, but Natsumi appeared to be so far gone that it had little to no effect on her. He tore the blade out of Natsumi's shoulder, and everything went black.

Natsumi woke, gasping for air, one hand instinctively reaching towards the wound she had just received; only to find there was no wound. In fact, she was perfectly fine. She examined her perfectly unwounded body, still shaking as she realized it had been a nightmare.

"Hey, are you okay? You don't seem to be doing all too well." Tsubaki asked, placing a hand on Natsumi's shoulder. She jumped, just now becoming aware of her surroundings.

She was on a plane, next to a window. Engines hummed in the background. Black Star could be heard loudly whooping as he watched the scenery go by, on the opposite side of the plane. Natsumi didn't recall nodding off, but in hindsight, the sound of the plane's humming could have easily let anyone drift off.

"Hey? Is something wrong? You look shaken."

Natsumi caught her breath. "It's nothing. I just had a bad dream… That's all." She rubbed her shoulder and gave a falsetto grin.

Tsubaki looked worried. "You don't look like it's nothing. What was it about?"

Natsumi's grin faded. "It was a nightmare, I think." She paused, reflecting. "Remember in our class three days ago, there was a picture of that Kishin Asura?" She asked. When Tsubaki nodded, she continued. "For some reason, he was in my dream. Just like he looked in the portrait of him we saw. Then… You guys… You were all beat up. I… I might have been dead. I had this huge cut on my chest," she traced where the cut had been in her dream. "And this weird black sword in my shoulder. Oh, there was this giant black soul even bigger than the moon, and another Kishin all dressed in white."

"A black soul bigger than the moon itself?" Tsubaki wondered aloud. "Well, that I think we can dismiss, but why were you dreaming about something like that?"

Natsumi shuddered. "I dunno. I have strange dreams like that a lot. One of my dreams was about my uncle being a vampire in my old school. No idea what caused that, but…" She paused. "Normally I don't have nightmares."

Tsubaki rubbed her friend's shoulder. "They say that nightmares are caused by one's soul-wavelengths being messed with. Once, people thought it was done by Witches, but recently some are thinking it's the soul's way of showing what to avoid."

Natsumi laughed bitterly. "Yeah. I think we all want to avoid dying." She poked at her heart. "I think I know I don't really want to die. Thanks for the reminder, me." She laughed legitimately this time, followed by Tsubaki.

Natsumi stretched. "Anyways, I have to do this practice homework thing that Professor Stein gave me."

Tsubaki watched as Natsumi ruffled through her backpack and brought out a deck of playing cards, their backs a picture of a soul. "A deck of cards? What's he trying to teach you, poker?"

"No, it's a Soul Perception training thing." She held up a card, the three of hearts. "Each one of these cards is unique. But what they all have in common is the fact that they all have a soul inside. There are fifty two regular cards, along with two Joker cards."

"What're you doing, some card games? I know some pretty cool ones!" Black Star laughed, joining in on the explanation.

"No, Black Star, she's just explaining her homework assignment." Tsubaki commented.

Black Star was taken aback with shock. "WHAT? You mean her homework assignments are playing with cards while we have to do actual assignments and stuff?"

Tsubaki grew irritated. "No, Black Star." She said firmly. "Let her explain."

Natsumi chuckled, then flipped the card twice. "Each one of these cards has a soul in it. They used to be Kishin eggs, but they were purified once they were sealed in this card." She looked at it carefully, her eyes flashing a shade just darker than her normal dark eye-color. "These were made to hone someone's Soul Perception abilities, and since they're so difficult to create due to the demand for creating Death Scythes, they aren't handed out to just anyone."

She carefully flipped the card to show Black Star and Tsubaki. "Cards in the suit of Hearts are supposed to be the easiest to see, followed by Clubs, Spades, and finally Diamonds. Lower numbered cards are the easiest per suit. So this Three of Hearts is pretty easy to see. What do you two see?" She asked, the card in her hand just barely shaking.

Black Star stared intently. "I see… A card. That's easy. Of course it's easy; it's a test for the great Black Star!" He laughed.

Tsubaki shook her head. "I see it. There's a small little soul that pops out of the card." She said, her eyes flashing. "But even with my senses, it's tough to see. And Black Star can't see a soul if it bit him."

Natsumi recalled a conversation with Stein. "'The cards are embedded with seals and disturbances so only those well adapted to Soul Perception can see the souls within. So if I take the Two of Hearts, someone like that block-head Black Star wouldn't be able to see the soul inside.'" When Black Star gave Natsumi a glare, she raised her hands defensively. "I was quoting Professor Stein, honest!"

Black Star folded his arms. "Then what else are these cards supposed to do?"

Natsumi shrugged. "Not much else. It's just a test to see how competent an individual's Soul Perception abilities are."

Tsubaki watched the Three of Heart's soul bob around. "And how far can you see up to?"

Natsumi skimmed through the cards, and proudly picked one. "Ten of Spades! Well, sort of. I can just barely see it, so I should say Nine of Spades."

Tsubaki clapped. "That's impressive… Right?"

"I'll find out when we get back to Death City. This Supplementary lesson you guys had took had priority to my most of my Extracurricular classes, so I had to do the hunt with you guys."

Black Star looked livelier. "That reminds me, I was wondering why you tagged along. I mean, it's not like I'm against it, but without a Weapon, you can't really do much alone. Besides, if it's me, I'm more than enough for a whole army of Meisters! Ahahaha!"

"… More homework. To put it short, watch and learn."

The plane eventually landed, and the trio made their way back to Death City. After re-convening with Lord Death, the trio split, Black Star and Tsubaki leaving to their home, while Natsumi returned to her apartment.

Soul sat in his apartment's living room, watching his TV. Blaire was close by, in her cat form and resting on top of the couch Soul rested on. The channel changed to a news anchor, describing the week's weather. As a small band of clouds were supposed to go by, the week would remain sunny, from the forecast. The news continued on, describing in detail how small villages had begun to disappear. Just before the story was about to pique his interest, Maka opened the door to their apartment, groceries in hand.

"This would be a lot easier if you helped with the errands more often." She scolded. However, she wasn't looking at Soul, but at Blaire.

"Nya? But I'm just a cat. I work at Chupa Cabras anyways; I pitch in on the rent to ya know nya." Blaire stretched lazily, then made herself comfortable on Soul's lap.

Maka sighed. "Anyways. I'm going to my room for a bit. I want to get a little bit of studying out of the way."

"Ever the studious one, nya." Blaire commented as Maka entered her room, leaving the groceries on a table.

After an hour, Soul heard activity in Natsumi's apartment. Blaire stood and walked around as Soul made his way to the bathroom. She expertly jumped outside and onto the balcony of Natsumi's apartment and stared inside. She seemed odd to Blaire, but she shrugged, and jumped off into the city.


	7. Dusk Falls

Thus, the weeks began to fly by. As the second month turned over, Maka found herself in a tight situation. A Kishin Egg in Paris had appeared, and it was eating every soul in sight. She, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki had been dispatched to pacify the soul, and Natsumi was sent along as well as part of her classes.

"Soul Resonance! Speed Star!" Black Star was everywhere at once. The speed achieved by his technique was baffling to the Kishin Egg, which had taken the form of a heavily shelled bipedal lizard. However, all of Black Star's attacks were repelled by the industrial-strength scales the Kishin Egg sported. Maka watched the Kishin Egg's reactions, timing her own attacks in perfect synchronicity with Black Star's.

Natsumi watched from the back. As usual, she was unable to help in the battle, but she reasoned that she wasn't supposed to. Legendary Meisters such as Black Star and Maka Albarn would be more capable than a no-named Weaponless Meister like her.

As the trio of combatants duel continued, Maka managed to lodge Soul's blade within a joint of the Kishin's armor, just above the Kishin's shoulder. Seeing his chance Black Star used his speed and kicked Soul's blade into the joint in the arm, succeeding in cutting the Kishin's arm off. Landing behind the Kishin Egg, he spun around as he slid backwards.

Everyone stood perfectly still. The Kishin laughed as it observed its arm. "Humans… I'll make sure to eat your souls before I move on back to what I was doing." It screeched in a hideously high voice. A black liquid dripped from its arm.

"Black Blood?" Soul and Maka asked simultaneously. Maka shuddered as she remembered when she had her Black Blood ordeals.

"Not quite." The Kishin Egg corrected her. A bone jutted out of the wound followed by muscle and sinew to its elbow. It repeated until it had its arm regenerated. It seemed out of place, being the only appendage not covered in scales. But the Egg corrected that, and blood splattered as a new set of scales erupted out of its flesh. "I've eaten just enough souls, Minor Kishin Eggs like me, and human souls alike," The pinecone-like armor clamped shut on the arm, recreating the scale shield. "So many, in fact, that I can regenerate any part of my body. If you take the time to just stand there after ripping off an arm, I'll have the advantage." It cackled as it swung a clawed arm at Maka.

Black Star Jumped in the air, landing his foot across the Kishin Egg's head as he dashed past it. It rolled twice, startled, but growled angrily as it recovered.

"Maka. I know you're trying to save on energy right now, but that defense that Kishin's got is just too annoying for a star like me to break. Use Demon Hunter and break him!" Black Star said, twin scythes twirling as he watched the Kishin.

Soul reflected in his scythe. "That means the Kishin Egg is mine this time too, right?"

Tsubaki reflected in one of the scythe. "Soul! You've gotten the last three Eggs! I mean, you even beat Liz and Patti to their eggs because you forced a deal on us…" She moaned.

"That's not cool, the ones who do the most work should get the most benefits! Even though short-cuts are easy…" Soul said, despondent.

"Focus…" Maka commanded slowly. "Let's take out the Kishin Egg before it has a chance to take us out, then we'll worry about who gets to eat the soul. Ready Soul?" Their souls began to spark.

"Soul Resonance! Demon Hunter!" The two yelled as Soul's blade grew exponentially, becoming luminescent white and crackling with power.

"Tsubaki! Enchanted Sword Mode, now!" Tsubaki nodded, and the twin scythes gleamed brilliantly before turning into a black sword as black markings appeared on Black Star. "Shadow Star!" Shadows split off of Black Star, and jumped onto the Kishin Egg's body, binding it. "Maka! Take this guy out!"

Maka jumped into the air, swinging Soul in Demon-Hunter mode. The Kishin flinched, and struggled, but it was unable to break free. Maka thrust Soul down, and cleaved the Kishin Egg's body in half. "Figure 6 Hunter!" She exclaimed, the afterimage of her attack still glowing as she jumped back.

"D-Damn it…" The Kishin screamed as it dissipated. However, the disintegration halted as it brought a nearly dissolved hand to its head. "That damned Witch let me eat as many souls as I wanted… I won't… Go down…" He panted, holding the upper portion of his body together. "Not like this…" His fingers began to regenerate.

In his innately insane speed, Black Star cut through the Kishin Egg's body with Tsubaki's Enchanted Blade. This time, the Kishin's body exploded in vapor as the Kishin Egg's soul appeared.

With no enemies present anymore, Soul and Tsubaki returned to their human forms. "What the hell was he? What was that about a Witch?" Soul asked.

"A Witch… Why would one work together with a Kishin Egg?" Maka asked aloud.

Natsumi walked forward to join the four. "I have no idea. But Medusa did the same thing with Crona, remember?" Black Star reminded. "Only, I don't sense a Witch anywhere near here." He looked at Natsumi. "Well? What does the loyal Witch detector sense?"

Natsumi shrugged and closed her eyes. She thought back from when she had returned to Stein. Back in Crescent Moon Class' lecture room, she and Stein sat alone.

"But you can still see something from the Ten, right?" Stein asked.

Natsumi nodded. "I can see up to the Nine of Spades just fine. Some are a little tricky, but in the end, I managed to get all the easier ones."

Stein sighed, then twisted the screw in his head. "Well, it's unfortunate, but as I started to predict. You do not have the Senrigan, or any variants of it. If you did, well, you'd be able to see into at least the upper numbers of the Diamonds."

"So then… I'm just an average person who has Soul Perception?" Natsumi asked.

Stein shook his head. "Not quite. You see, in order to see some cards, you must have experience with how each card works. For instance, I would place a bet that you can see the soul of a Witch, which would be comparable to that of the Ace of Spades. You just have never had any experience with Witches, and just don't know how to look at the card."

Natsumi tilted her head. "What about the in-between cards? Surely it's not an immediate thing, like I can just suddenly see the Jack through King, could I?"

"In theory, yes. In practice, probably not. But," Stein paused, thinking. "It's probably likely, actually. Most Witches hide their souls in a technique called Soul Protect. Ten through King of Spades all have seals, hexes, and distortions placed on them to confuse a perceiver's senses to make it look as if nothing is there. But, even telling you this piece of information would allow you to start to see something… This is why I considered not saying anything."

"Wait, what?" Natsumi was dazed by confusion. "You completely lost me…"

Stein sighed. "Witches hide themselves using Soul Protect. The cards you're having trouble on all have weaker or distorted versions placed on the cards as well. However, you're able to still see a fuzzy image… Right? At least on the Ten of Spades. That means you can at least know that something is there. If you were in the presence of a witch, you would be able to see not what they want you to see, but a big orb in the air.

"However, when a Witch uses Soul Protect, her soul becomes that of a human in appearance. Since the higher numbers of Spades are meant to be Witch tests, and you've never encountered one, it's not strange. But, you are still able to see something on Ten."

"So can someone like, Maka for instance, see through a Soul Protect?"

"Her Soul Perception skills are quite notable and advanced, but only one person known to the world has the ability to pierce a Witch's Soul Protect. He's a Meister by the name of Joe Buttataki. I'd say that in time, Maka has the potential to develop the same type of Soul Perception. You however, can see the actual Spell of Soul Protection. That's interesting. That means you should be able to pierce it with enough practice."

Natsumi opened her eyes and looked at Black Star, her eyes flashing dark brown. "I see us. That's all." She looked around. "I don't see any Witches…"

"Aw, looks like he died." The group froze. "And here I just gave him that power-up." The group turned around. Floating in the sky was a man dressed in a white tuxedo, wearing a white fedora, with matching tie. "Now why did you have to go and do that, when I just managed to make it start eating other Kishin Eggs? Oh hold on, I think I've heard of you!" He exclaimed sarcastically as he gazed on Maka and Soul.

"Who is this guy?" Black Star yelled. "You taking the spotlight away from me?"

"Oh my, a spotlight? It was never on you to begin with! You were just playing a part for me in my experiment. Even the heralded Kishin slayer was only a role-player." The man laughed.

Natsumi took a step back. "Where did you come from? I didn't see any souls around here!"

"Oh dear me, I've been hiding so well for so long, sometimes I forget to announce my presence." He took his fedora in one hand and bowed slightly. "If you're so curious, I'm the experimenter of that little project."

"So you're the person that the Kishin Egg mentioned." Tsubaki contemplated, but wordlessly transformed into the Enchanted Blade again, flying into Black Star's hand. Reflecting from the blade, she continued. "We can't let you get away with causing harm. Black Star, Maka, Soul, let's go! Natsumi, you should stay a safe distance away."

Soul nodded and turned back into a scythe as he grasped Maka's hand. "Let's go, Soul Resonance!" Maka was going all out, no bars held. "Witch Hunter!" The luminescent scythe once again glowed on the battlefield.

"Now, now, there's no need to be hostile is there? I can see why I'd attack first, but…" A white cane appeared at his hand. He deftly used it to parry Maka's Witch Hunter, and continued his speech. "You're taking way too much interest in a Witch like me."

"A Witch?" Maka asked. She studied her opponent. "But… Aren't all Witches women?"

Soul reflected in the scythe. "Don't get distracted by trivial details. Remember that crazy wolf-guy called Free? He used magic too. He might be like him too."

The man's interest was piqued. "Free? I wonder… Say, this wolf-man, did he have a strange eye with a symbol in it?" He watched their facial expressions carefully. "I see. Prisoner Thirteen, the Immortal who stole the Grand Witch's eye." A barrier appeared around the man, and shattered when he clapped his hands. "Soul Protection – Release." He commanded. His soul, purple, typical of a Witch's, became visible, but a unique characteristic was what absorbed Maka. His soul only had eyes. "I am no Immortal, nor am I human. I am pure-blooded. And you know what, why don't you try calling me Warlock? That seems more gender appropriate, doesn't it?" He asked.

"A Witch is a Witch, no matter what you decide to call it. Besides, you aren't as big a star as you need to be in order to change your title!" Black Star laughed.

The man sighed. "Very well, I suppose." He continued under his breath. "Jeez, it's like no one respects me. I thought some humans would, but not even they do!"

"Witch Hunter!" Maka swung her enlarged scythe again. The man countered by blocking the strike with the shaft of his cane. "Black Star! Now!"

Black Star appeared out of thin-air, with Tsubaki extended and ready to slash the Witch in two. However, the man used his free hand and directed a palm at Black Star. "Snake, Snake!" Black Star's eyes widened as the man's hand glowed cyan. "Icy Venom." A streak of blue light began to form.

"Soul Resonance: Speed Star!" The Resonance was made just in time, the attack's radius barely nicked Black Star's side. The man pushed back with his cane, and forced Maka off of him. "Shadow Star!" Shadows wrapped around in the air.

"Come on. You can't pin me down with that technique." The man scoffed. Silently, Maka and Black Star exchanged looks and a plan.

Maka's Witch Hunter expanded. "I like that plan." She swung her scythe, which emitted a shockwave towards the man.

"When we get back, we'll have to tell Lord Death about this. Don't let me forgot that, okay Tsubaki?" She nodded in the Enchanted Blade, which she transformed to her dual scythe form. "Scythe mode! Trap Star!" The chains expanded outwards, covering the field.

Dodging several chains the man looked irritated. Maka used the end of her scythe to jab at the man, who deflected several strike with his cane. He jumped out of Soul's shaft range, but nicked one of the chains. Immediately, the trap was sprung. Deftly twisting his body, he avoided the coiling chains, and brought down his cane on a vulnerable Black Star. However Maka threw Soul like a hand ax, which retained his Witch Hunter form. The attack threw the Witch off guard. Shadows poured off Black Star to reveal Tsubaki.

"Killing Move! Black Star Big Wave!" Behind the man, Black Star appeared, Soul Waves in hand. The attack connected, sending waves of energy out of the Witch.

On the side, Soul transformed back to his human form, and jumped off the side of an uplifted slab of cement. The beginnings of his Soul Resonance beginning to fade became visible, but as he returned towards Maka, he re-assumed his Scythe form, which was still able to enlarge into its Witch Hunter form. Struggling to regain his composure, the returning Soul was able to cut him deeply just before Maka caught her Weapon. He gasped as blood gushed down his tuxedo.

"You're finished Witch." She yelled, she swung around, bringing down her scythe and sent a wave of her soul's wavelength hurtling towards the Witch. His eyes widened, but due to his wounds, he couldn't escape, and was engulfed in the blast. Maka ran to Black Star's side, peering off in the direction Natsumi had ran, and when she sensed her soul still safe, she looked at the dissipating cloud of dust.

"Did we get him?" Black Star asked, twin scythes in hand.

The clouds drifted away, showing a heavily wounded man. "I didn't think… That you'd be this powerful without using your stronger techniques…" He chuckle, but coughed up blood. "Remember this, Meisters and Weapons. Remember it well. My name is Elapidae. Don't forget i-" He paused. His body unraveled until only his purple soul remained.

"Wait, what? That finished him off?" Soul asked.

Black Star proudly placed the back of one of his scythes on his shoulder. "I guess we were too much for him." Tsubaki and Soul resumed their human forms.

"Oi, Natsumi, the coast's clear this time." Soul yelled.

Tsubaki looked at the Witch's soul. Just as Natsumi approached the group, the soul shuddered. "Watch out! Something's happening!" She warned.

True enough, the soul inflated, then burst in a powerful gust of wind. Small traces of his presence were felt, but it eventually faded away

"What was that? No soul I've seen has ever just exploded like that!" Soul said, shocked.

"I-I don't know. That's not normal…" Maka said.

Black Star even seemed in shock. "Ha ha… I guess he still had a spell up his sleeve even after he died."

Natsumi looked around. "Maka, can you help me out this time? I don't want to screw up again…" Both girls' eyes flashed with color. "I don't see anyone… This time though, I don't even see a Witch's bubble.

Maka nodded. "Same. I guess we're good now. We should be on our way back to Death City. Report to Lord Death about this Witch Elapidae." She shuddered. "Creep."

The five made their way through the damaged portion of city they created, and eventually, they were on a plane back the United States. By this time, night had fallen, and the plane found only Soul and Tsubaki still awake.

"Hey Soul?" Tsubaki asked.

Soul adjusted himself. "What's up?"

"That witch. Elapidae?" She asked. "His soul exploded. I've never seen one explode. I know that they can be eaten, and typically, the souls are absorbed within the consuming host."

Soul nodded. "You saw what happened with that Kishin Asura right? When Maka gave him a good one to his face? His soul wasn't consumed, so the human souls within were released."

Tsubaki tilted her head. "I know that we consume souls, our own soul works like a jar. The collective souls come together, and if say, I were to become a Death Scythe, the collective energy from the ninety-nine Kishin Eggs and Witch soul would tremendously increase my strength."

"Yeah. You're right. But a Kishin Egg… Or even a Kishin itself, those are different." He waved his hand. "Those don't have a limit. As soon as they eat a human soul, it just continues to compact souls at it eats them."

Natsumi woke, groggy and bleary-eyed. "What're you talking about?" She asked after a couple seconds.

"Just going over how a Kishin's soul works. It's basically like jamming a bunch of feathers into a pillow. A nice, comfortable pillow. That's how we work. But a Kishin's a human who ate another human soul, okay?" Soul explained. Natsumi nodded. "But it keeps on eating souls. It doesn't care about limits anymore, especially since it already broke taboo. That pillow now, is getting pretty big. Then the Kishin becomes a full-fledged Kishin Egg. That's like…"

"It's like an air compressor." Tsubaki took over. "Right? If a regular soul can only fit so much, than a Kishin Egg has to have resistances against over-filling itself."

Soul gave a thumbs-up. "You weren't there to see it Natsumi, but when Maka delivered the final blow to the Kishin Asura, his body literally exploded from the pressure of all of the souls inside of him. You probably were able to see the residue of that soul dispersion. But this Kishin Egg earlier today, it was eating other Kishin Eggs."

"Or so it said." Tsubaki said doubtfully.

Natsumi shook her head. "The Witch also said that it was eating other Kishin Eggs." She yawned.

Soul looked up, and yawned as well. "That's contagious, you know. But you're right. Maybe that's why it was so powerful."

The plane continued on its path. The trio continued their conversation late into the night, before Tsubaki finally gave in to sleep, and passed out.

"It's fun." Natsumi said.

"I'm sorry?" Soul questioned.

Natsumi got up, and moved to the seat in front of Soul and reclined it so she could see him. "This group thing. It's actually fun. Minus the whole nearly dying bit."

Soul smiled. "You have crazy ideas of fun. That's pretty cool."

Natsumi yawned. "I'm serious though. I didn't have anyone close back where I came from. You guys are pretty much the first people I can say that I've gotten this close to."

Soul frowned. "That's not cool, opening with such a move. What am I supposed to say to that?" He grinned.

Natsumi shrugged. "I dunno. But maybe it's not a bad thing."

The two were silent for a while. Soul was about to say something, before he noticed that Natsumi had fallen asleep on the reclined seat. He looked outside, watching the night scenery. In the distance, he could see a huge thunderhead cloud flicker with lightning. _I didn't think we were supposed to be getting around round of rain. Oh well. Maybe it'll miss Death City. That'd be cool._


	8. Contact

**AN: **Well, this happened. The reason, I think, why I paused on Contact is because I'm not really good with transition chapters, which Contact is. Anyways, working on Monmusu Quest also took up some time, and I've been tired lately. Like, lethargic. Anywho, here's to the next chapter!

* * *

W

Lord Death stood in his Death Room. Maka, Black Star, Soul, and Tsubaki were present as well. A cloud drifted between them. "So you say this Kishin Egg had an interaction with this Witch?"

"Yes, Lord Death sir." Maka replied. "The Kishin Egg implied it was enhanced in some way by the Witch, and the Witch implied he performed some experiment on it."

"Whatever happened to it, it started eating other Kishin Eggs, and it got super strong. It even regenerated an arm we cut off." Black Star finished.

"Hm… " Lord Death fell silent, pondering. "To be honest, I've never heard of a Kishin Egg hunting other Eggs to eat. Something to think on, definitely. Then again, it may be a side effect of whatever that Witch did to the egg. Did you happen to eat it, or keep it as a piece of evidence?"

Soul's expression turned dark. "There's no way in hell you could ever get me to eat that thing. I don't care if it's a short-cut to becoming a Death Scythe, that Kishin Egg freaked me out. Totally uncool." He groaned as Maka extended the glowing Egg.

"The appearance looks like that of a regular Egg, only slightly larger, probably due to the amount of souls it digested." Lord Death Commented. "Anyways, that Witch's name, what was it?"

"His name was Elapidae. He was a Witch, but he was also a man." Soul stated. "Even though he denied it, I thought he might be like Free, the Immortal who worked for Medusa."

Lord Death shook his head. "No, no, Immortals are truly a rarity in this day and age. I find the odds of stumbling upon an Immortal much less killing it as well in such short of time are as preposterous as having Medusa knock on my door."

Soul looked down. "I never thought of that. After all the damage we did to Free, he still stood up and his wounds healed immediately."

"Elapidae's wounds didn't heal. He was recoiling from Maka's Witch Hunter's attack, along with Black Star's direct Soul-Wavelength attack." Tsubaki reminded.

Lord Death scratched his head. "You know, male Witches are not unheard of. Genetically, they're rarer than an Immortal, but they do exist. I know of one male Witch from the past, but…" He paused. "Let me tell you a small story. All this happened centuries before you were born.

"Back during the first few decades of Death Weapon Meister Academy, our process of student selection was… Eh, unrefined. Anywho, one year we had a new, different student, a student named Henry. Relatively plain in background, or what he told us. He was a noble youth from a shrinking family in England. He seemed to fit in pretty well, and had his own clique.

"Very manipulative, implicitly, though. Never had a problem with getting what he wanted, even going so far as to take a couple downfalls to end up on top. Excellent fighter, and was able to become a Two Star Meister within four months. He was diligent, and took mission after mission. Eventually, he became a Three Star Meister, and was promoted to Spartoi. But then… Things changed for the worst.

"You see, he had quite a league of power in his following. He made advances in even hunting Witches that only made sense when you applied hindsight to the matter. One day, a group of Witches appeared in Death City. They caused utter chaos. To top it all off, it was Henry, or Elapidae as he revealed, that allowed them in to destroy the DMWA. What made problems worse was that the significant following he had was demoralized by his revelation. So many were killed. But I, alongside the staff of the past Death Academy, managed to destroy the Witches that appeared. I even dealt the final blow to Elapidae myself, and destroyed his soul completely." Lord Death concluded.

"I've never heard that story before, Father." Kid had entered the room, and it seemed as if he had been present for quite some time.

Lord Death sighed. "It's not a story I'm quite fond of. I lost many friends and students that day."

Black Star raised his hand. Without waiting for any reaction, he spoke. "So wait, you never heard of anything relating to this Elapidae guy after that again?"

Lord Death tilted his head. "I'm afraid not guys. After half a century of relatively normal happenings, I thought, and had good reason to assume, he was gone for good."

"So if this Elapidae Witch is really back… That's a pretty obvious clue that he never died to begin with," Maka thought aloud. She looked at Lord Death. "Which means it's probably safe to assume that he didn't die when we took him out before."

Soul took a step forward. "Wait a sec, Maka. His soul literally exploded."

Maka nodded. "I know. But… Lord Death destroyed Elapidae's soul himself."

"Could this be someone who inherited magical powers from a Witch?" Tsubaki asked. "You know. Free stole the Grand Witch's eye and he gained the ability to use magic. Maybe this Elapidae is similar. He gained something from a witch, and is masquerading around as the Witch who nearly brought Death City to its knees."

"Quite an assumption, Tsubaki." Lord Death commented. "But it's plausible. If that's the case, he has quite a shadow to live under at this rate. Oh Spirit! Wherever are you?" He called out.

Spirit walked into the room from behind one of the crosses in the background. "I've been here, listening." He turned his full attention to Lord Death. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll begin with full student lists. Any suspects we'll note, and while we're compiling the list, we'll be going over student records." Lord Death continued a list of actions he planned to take. Eventually, the five realized that their presence was no longer necessary, and Kid waved them to the exit.

"So what does that mean the next few weeks will be like?" Maka wondered aloud.

Kid shrugged. "Like I said before, Father has never mentioned this story before. But he seems serious right now, so I can't really say. We should know by this evening."

"Good thing we're exempt from classes then. Gives me just enough time to relax and train." Black Star stretched.

"I have no doubt Professor Stein will know of our encounter with this Elapidae Masquerader. It'll be interesting to see his take on the situation." Kid commented.

Maka tilted her head as the group walked down the steps of Death Academy. "Well… He might even have a few suspicions of his own."

"What if this guy isn't trying to infiltrate DWMA?" Tsubaki asked. "I mean, it's the first thing we're looking at. It's like the Law of Assassins."

Black Star nodded. "Right now, that totally makes sense. Right now, we're assuming he's going to do the same thing he did before. If the last time, he opened a window or opened the back door and snuck inside, then all we're doing is looking to see if the windows and doors are locked."

"You're saying that we shouldn't bother with searching the student and staff body for this guy?" Kid asked.

Tsubaki interjected. "What he means is, if I may, is that we're doing the obvious choices first. He's not, and this is my own assumption, going to do the same thing twice. We're checking the student body because his predecessor broke in that way. He's going to do something different. He'd be a fool to try that technique when it's the first thing we've thought of." She explained.

"Will it even be a stealthy approach?" Black Star asked. "He's trying to be a legendary figure. Sort of like a star, I guess, but insignificant compared to someone as legendary as me."

Kid smiled. "What? You think instead of sneaking in, he'll knock on the door and kick it down?" He visualized a cartoon-ized scenario in his head and chuckled.

"If we stick to the house analogy, why not?" Maka thought. "He snuck in, and let his friends in to start a party. He was kicked out, so now his admirer wants to make things right, and wants to throw a party at the same place."

"Whatever it is, he won't be doing it soon. I think we have time, maybe lifetimes, before we actually have to worry about this fake doing anything. Come one, we're almost at our place." Soul urged the rest of the group on.

Later that night, the group discovered that all Extracurricular ad Supplementary class activities had been canceled, and that regular classes would be put on hold for a few days. The notice was vague, but it explained that a student body search was underway, and that these would make it easier on both the staff and students alike.

Kid left for a short while in between, but returned shortly with Patti and Liz, all dressed in their informal attire. The entire group convened at Maka's apartment, as per usual, and invited Natsumi in as well.

She wore a yellow and green tie-dye shirt and blue jeans, but her three bangles remained on her arm. She noted Kid's loose shirt, and thought that he truly had a class about him.

After catching everyone up on their thoughts about the scenario, and telling Death's story of Elapidae, the group settled down. Natsumi paused her role in the group festivities, and retreated to her room. At first, her presence wasn't noticed until a few minutes later. However, just as Maka was about to check on Natsumi, she returned with a game console in hand.

"Oi, isn't that-?" Black Star paused, looking at the sleek console. "You mean you've had one all this time!? I can't wait to test it out!"

The game console was set up, and as Soul and Black Star started playing a few games that Natsumi had brought along as well. Minutes passed to hours as the group took turns exchanging controllers.

Eventually, after many hours of playing, only Black Star and Natsumi remained awake. On the screen of Maka's television, two warriors dashed around the screen, cooperatively attacking a large enemy on the screen. Eventually, Natsumi yawned and gave up on consciousness, and Black Star shrugged. With dawn still a few hours away, Black Star decided he too would sleep, and end the day on a positive note, defeating the boss of the game moments after.

A powerful pulse of energy split the sky of Death Academy. The power immediately jolted the group from their slumber, shock etched on all of their faces.

"What the hell?" Soul exclaimed, flailing his arms as he woke.

"Th-this is!?" Kid gasped.

Maka nodded. "It's a soul… But…"

Black Star shuddered. "This feeling… It's… Different, but I've felt something like this before."

"Guys, we've got to get on this!" Liz directed, fixing her appearance. "This presence doesn't feel like that Witch's, but it's worrisome of how vague its intentions are!"

"Liz is right." Kid nodded. "Whatever it is, it's coming straight for Death Academy. Let's go people."

"Right." Tsubaki agreed.

Within minutes, the group of eight were out on the streets of Death City, racing through alleyways to beat the invader. Maka's eyes were closed as she led the group on a direct path to the invader, but it soon became unnecessary as they arrived to one of the main, larger streets of Death City.

It seemed as if most of the population had been startled by the presence of the invader, retreating to a safe place until the situation had resolved itself, and it gave the eight a clear view of the invader. They tensed as shadows revealed the figure of a masked man draped completely in white, with horns skewed to his front on his head. His robes were trimmed in green where the cloth folded on itself, and line ran up his fingers centered on the bones up to his wrist, but his outfit maintained a shell-like appearance, no breaks or multiple pieces of cloth were apparent. A single, thicker stripe of dark green bisected his robe-like shell vertically, disappearing just under the horned, blank white mask he wore.

"Woah, what a freaky looking guy." Black Star commented, looking over the man.

Tsubaki, Liz, Patti, and Soul all took on their Weapon forms, wielded by their respective partners. "Don't get distracted by his appearance, Kid." Liz warned.

However, her warning came too late. "Woah." Kid moaned. "He's… Symmetrical!" He exclaimed, looking at the mysterious man in two halves. "Someone so symmetrical can only be an ally!"

"Kid! Now's not the time for that!" Liz yelled, in pistol form.

Kid was about to ogle over the symmetrical patterns of the man, but a pulse of soul-wavelengths caught the group off guard. "I suppose that can wait until we access the situation."

"Who are you?" Maka asked, brandishing Soul's scythe form at the invader.

Undeterred by the group's appearance, the man continued walking towards the group, almost as if he didn't even recognize them. His eyes glowed emerald as he walked past the group, the eight slowly backing as he passed them.

"Hey! Don't ignore me you freak! I'm the star! I'm the main character! You've got to pay me my respects!" Black Star yelled, jumping back in front of him.

The rest of the group moved in front of the man, forcing him to stop. "You've got some answers for us. Tell us who you are." Kid ordered.

A pulse of soul-wavelengths passed through the group. 'I have no business with you currently.' The group stood still, uncertain what they had just heard.

"What was that?" Natsumi asked, taking a step back.

"That voice… Where did it come from?" Maka asked, looking in multiple directions before resettling her eyes on the masked man.

"Feel closely, Maka." Kid started. "It was him. Pay attention to the voice." Kid said, narrowing his eyes as Maka closed hers.

'Remove yourself from my path. I have no necessary interactions with you at this time.' The masked man stated again.

"Like hell you don't." Black Star shouted, drawing Tsubaki's blades close to him. "No one as strong as you suddenly appears out of nowhere having nothing to do with Death Academy."

'My business is with Death Weapons Meister's Academy, more specifically, it's administrator.' The man stood still, no noise emanating from him.

"I get it now." Maka said, slowly opening her eyes. "That's his 'voice' we're hearing? And what do you mean the administrator of Death Academy? Do you mean Lord Death?"

'That is correct.' The buzzing pulse rang in their ears. 'Now, I have urgent business.'

"I'm Death the Kid." Said Meister announced, taking over Black Star's position in the center. "My father would send word of someone like you arriving if what you speak is the truth."

'I come with warnings in this letter, addressed to Death.' The masked man explained, his skinny fingers wrapping around a note of paper. 'If you have direct connections with Death, bring me to him now.' He ordered.

"There's no need to detain our guest any further." A familiar voice stated, revealing Stein as he walked out of a shadow.

Barely moving his eyes, the masked man addressed Stein. 'Do you have direct connections with Death?'

Cranking the cog in his head, Stein nodded. "Lord Death wishes to speak with you."

"Wait, what?" Soul asked, his reflection appearing on his scythe. "Who is this guy?"

Stein shrugged. "I have no idea. But Lord Death sent me to fetch him." He returned his attention to the man. "Well? This way." He beckoned, walking towards Death Academy.

Several minutes passed as the group followed the two to Death Academy. Finally reaching the Death Room, Stein stood outside as the man entered.

"It'd probably be best if we waited outside. I haven't seen Lord Death seem so serious in a while these days." Stein stated, looking at their curious faces.

Kid shook his head. "The last time something as important as this seems happened, it involved the Kishin." He folded his arms. "I want to know what has my father so agitated with this guy."

Inside the Death Room, the man stood at a distance from Death. Silence was palpable as the man took out the scroll of paper, handing it to Death. He read intently, then sighed.

"I knew your soul felt familiar." Death observed. "Semantics wrote this, Murcielago?" He said, phrasing himself. "He's rather pessimistic, isn't he?"

'…' Murcielago simply stood in front of Death, not unlike a statue.

"Anywho, you'll be surprised to know that we've already began preparations, not for something like this though." Death admitted. Murcielago's only physical reaction was a slight shift in his weight. "Don't worry. Death City stood up to Asura after all. I think we can handle a couple of rogue Weapons."

At this, Murcielago lurched forward by a few inches. 'These are no Weapons.' He pulsed. 'The gravity of the situ-'

"I know. But you've already met some of my best students on your way here." Death interrupted.

'I had been anticipating… Differently.' Murcielago commented, his blank emerald eyes unceasingly boring at Death.

At that moment, Kid entered the room, shortly followed by the rest of the waiting group outside.

"Not everyone is as they seem, Murcielago." Death commented, as the group stood by the side of the conversation. "For instance, you know what I am capable of, yet I look like this. It's not particularly frightening, I'd hope."

'…'

"Albarn, there, was the one who dealt the final blow to the Kishin Asura." Death stated, while pointing an over-sized finger at Maka. "Is that not worthy of regard? Kid is a Grim Reaper too, and quite formidable. Black Star is one of our greatest Meisters as well."

'I did not mean impudence.' Murcielago stated. 'The Forge has installed much higher estimates when I see something.'

"Hey!" Black Star roared. "Were you just saying that I looked weak!?" He went to throttle Murcielago's neck, but a sharp shock from a statuesque Murcielago sent Black Star back. "What the hell?"

'I apologize.' He declared. 'I am not used to humans.'

"Humans?" Soul asked, looking Murcielago over.

"I am a Demon Weapon." Murcielago stated. "Tell me, I know that some of my caliber live in this world. For instance, Excalibur resides in this world." At this, an immediate reaction occurred on all of the faces of those present, save for the masked two.

"No way… You're related to Excalibur?" Black Star gagged, as if the name itself would summon him.

"In a way." Murcielago stated. "I am similar in composition and form, but I would be inferior to Excalibur in brute strength and abilities, considering everything."

"Anyways, it seems as if we still haven't had proper introductions!" Lord Death said cheerily. "You've already met each other, but why not introduce yourselves? He'll be staying for a while, from the looks of it."

'I am the Godsbane Blade, Murcielago.' A resonation filled the air as he introduced himself. A few minutes passed as they exchanged names to the Weapon.

"I've been wondering this for a while now…." Tsubaki wondered. "But when you talk, you're not really talking, are you?"

Maka nodded. "I think we've all noticed that. What's with your voice?"

'I am physically mute.' Murcielago stated. 'I rely on vibrations created by my soul wavelengths to carry my thoughts. It's a form of telepathy.'

Lord Death swayed in place as Murcielago was questioned. "I'm afraid that I need Murcielago." Lord Death interjected. "If you're really interested, you'll have to find separate time. We have more matters to discuss, in terms of preparing Death City." Relieved of their presence, Death and Murcielago stood face to face. "I assume that you've heard of Avalon?"

'I have. What purpose is there in bringing that up?'

"I could tell that you thought our defenses were lackluster." Death stated. "Don't worry. As painfully neutral as you can be, I'm not blind." He laughed. "So I was thinking… If we must fight against another Kishin, then it would make sense to prepare."

'You aim to seek their numbers to fortify each other?'

"That is correct."

'Alchemy is an uncanny ability to wield.' He stated.

"That it is. But it's also uncanny for an opponent to read. Do you not like the idea?" Death asked.

'…' Murcielago's emerald eyes simply stared at the holes in Death's mask. 'I am only a weapon to be used. Do as you see fit.'

"Excellent. I'll arrange a contact for Avalon." Death said happily. "Ah… But…" Death suddenly fell from the high. "If Semantics is right, and we do have a fight on our hands, do you not have a Meister to wield you?"

The Godsbane Blade shook his head. 'Only those seeking to end their lives should ever wield this power.'


End file.
